A Paraphrased Summary: Night 1 of the Democratic Presidential Primary Debates
If you weren’t able to make yourself tune into a grueling two hours of presidential primary candidates, try reading this paraphrased summary of Wednesday’s Democratic showdown between 10 of the 24 presidential hopefuls.
*The following is paraphrased. The quotes are a summary of the questions asked and answers given and although some responses are verbatim, not all are direct quotes.*
1. 71% of Americans, including 60% of Democrats think the economy is doing well. What do you say to people who think so much radical economic change (free healthcare, free college, higher minimum wage, etc.) would be risky?
Elizabeth Warren: The economy is only working for a thin slice at the top. There is so much corruption. We need change.
2. Are Senator Warren and Bernie Sanders’ economic plans achievable?
Amy Klobuchar: We need to make community college free, but not for the rich kids. I would double Pell grants.
3. Would you support a 70% marginal tax rate for people who make over $10 million a year?
Beto O’Rourke: Speaks Spanish. Our economy is rigged. What we really need is campaign finance reform.
4. Do you want to answer the question?
Beto O’Rourke: No.
5. Tell us your stance on breaking up monopolies, big banks, etc.
Cory Booker: Corporate consolidation is a huge problem. I sponsored a bill about this. Our economy has to work for everyone. Amazon and Halliburton should be paying taxes. We need to appoint more judges and have a stronger DOJ to uphold our finance laws.
Elizabeth Warren: There is too much consolidation in big industries.We need more courage to take on the giants by saying their names out loud.
6. What would you do to ensure women are paid fairly in America?
Julian Castro: I grew up poor. Pass the “Equal Rights Act”, and pass a law that ensures women are paid what they’re worth.
Tulsi Gabbard: We need to end the costly regime change wars and use those trillions of dollars to invest in income inequality, healthcare, and climate change.
Bill De Blasio: In NY I made $15 minimum wage a real thing. I’m a real Democrat. There is plenty of money in this country, but it’s in the wrong hands.
John Delaney: We need to double the earned income tax credit, raise the minimum wage, and have paid family leave. We need to spend more time fixing our education system. I know how to create jobs because I’ve done it before when I was an entrepreneur.
Jay Inslee: We need better unions to bargain collectively. We can put millions to work in the clean jobs of the future.
7. Are manufacturing jobs coming back?
Tim Ryan: GM got a tax cut and a bailout and moved their plant to Mexico. We need to dominate clean energy.
Elizabeth Warren: Our policy right now lets giant companies do whatever they want. We need to go ten-fold on our research and development of clean energy moving forward, then we will give it away for free as long as the companies will agree to only manufacture products in America. Then we will sell it to the rest of the world. This will create 1.2 million manufacturing jobs in America.
8. Who would abolish private health insurance in favor of a government-run plan?
Bill De Blasio and Elizabeth Warren raise their hands.
9. Why is an incremental approach (keep a private health care option as you introduce a government plan) to healthcare is the way to go?
Amy Klobuchar: I’m concerned about kicking half of America off their health insurance. Prescriptions are too high. Allow negotiation of Medicare with drug companies, allow cheaper drugs to come in from other countries.
10. Would you pursue Medicare for All as president?
Elizabeth Warren: Families go broke mostly because of their medical bills. Healthcare is a basic human right, and I will fight for basic human rights.
Beto O’Rourke: Universal healthcare as fast as possible has to be our goal. Lives depend on it. Mental health too, and abortion. My plan doesn’t do away with private insurance.
Bill De Blasio: Private insurance isn’t working for people and Beto O’Rourke is defending them!
John Delaney: We can’t take away private insurance. Every hospital would be closed if all their bills were paid at the current Medicare rate.
Tulsi Gabbard: Employers will step up and financially support the program because it will save them money. Also, there are some good private insurance options that should be kept. We should always look at the best of our ideas. I support Medicare for All.
Cory Booker: Healthcare is not just a human right, it's an American right. Medicare for All is the way we do this.
Elizabeth Warren: We need to put families above the insurance companies, they’re profiteering off of our sick.
Jay Inslee: Abortion is a right. I’m the only candidate who has passed a law about this.
John Delaney: Yeah, that’s false.
Amy Klobuchar: The three women up here also think abortion is a right.
Everyone agrees they support abortion.
Julian Castro: In addition to believing in abortion, I also believe trans individuals who are poor deserve access to abortions.
Elizabeth Warren: I support abortion and Roe V Wade.
11. Should pharmaceutical companies be liable for opioid deaths?
Cory Booker: Absolutely. I won’t take money from any sort of pharma companies because they’re complicit, they need to be held accountable.
Beto O’Rourke: We have to get non-violent drug offenders out of prison. Marijuana is legal in 11 states. This can’t continue to happen. We have to provide mental healthcare to people who are addicted to drugs.
12. What would you do about family separations and illegal immigration?
Julian Castro: I put out a comprehensive immigration plan in April. Get rid of Trump’s immigration policies. Honor asylum claims, get immigrants that haven’t committed serious crimes a pathway to citizenship. We need a plan for these central American countries so these people don’t have to make the journey here.
Cory Booker: Speaks Spanish. End Trump’s immigration policies. Reinstate DACA and make major investments in the Northern Triangle.
Julian Castro: We need to repeal section-1325 that makes crossing the border illegally a jail-able offense and treat it as a misdemeanor.
Cory Booker: ICE is ripping families apart also.
Bill De Blasio: These are not our values. People think illegal immigrants are getting them down, but it's the big corporations and 1% that have caused these problems.
Moderator speaks Spanish.
Beto O’Rourke: Speaks Spanish. I would give everyone crossing the border who is fleeing a dangerous country asylum. I would make DREAMers American citizens. I’d invest in these South American countries.
Julian Castro: It’s all about Section-1325, and Beto doesn’t want to repeal it!
Beto O’Rourke: I’ve supported legislation that would allow asylum seekers to get in, but if you’ve committed a serious crime, you’re going to be deported.
Julian Castro: No no no. Title 18…
John Delaney: We need to discuss the root of the problem.
Amy Klobuchar: Immigrants do not diminish America, but you do want provisions in place to go after traffickers and others who aren’t obeying the law. Economically, we need immigrants. My bill will save us a $158 billion and offers a pathway to citizenship.
Tim Ryan: The law already says that people who are criminals won’t receive asylum or citizenship. We need to be sending doctors to the border to take care of these people.
Cory Booker: This is a civil issue, not a criminal issue. America is making money off of criminalizing things. Let’s actually solve this problem by making investments into the Northern Triangle. We should also provide healthcare to the people who come here.
13. There has still not been an answer from anyone on this stage about family separations.
Jay Inslee: The families should be released and the law should be followed. We shouldn’t turn local law enforcement into mini ICE. In Washington we made sure DREAMers got to go to college. We welcome refugees; our diversity is a strength.
John Delaney: My grandfather was actually separated from his family when he came here.
14. We’re moving on. Who would sign onto the Iran Nuclear Deal now, as it was written in 2015?
Everyone but Cory Booker raises their hand.
Cory Booker: That deal gave us transparency. But if I could get a better deal, I would.
15. Was it a good deal?
Amy Klobuchar: It was imperfect but better than what we had. Now we are less safe. I’d negotiate us back into that deal, stand with our allies, and don’t give unlimited leverage to Russia and China.
Tulsi Gabbard: This president and his chicken-hawk cabinet have led us to the brink of war with Iran. This war would be far more costly than anything we saw in Iraq. This would turn into a larger, regional war. We need to get back into the Iran Nuclear Agreement and negotiate a better deal.
16. What would your red line be for military action in Iran?
Tulsi Gabbard: Of course if there was an attack on America or our military, that would warrant a response.
17. What would you do about gun violence? Would you take guns away from people?
Elizabeth Warren: We need universal background checks, and we need to ban the weapons of war. But we need to follow the research.
18. So… Would you take away guns from people?
Elizabeth Warren: This is a serious issue. Someone who has never fired their weapon, that’s very different. This is a public health emergency. We need real change. We need to fight for our children.
Cory Booker: I have proposed a federal buyback program. I live in a very dangerous neighborhood. Faith without works is dead, so we will find a way. But we need bold action and a bold agenda. I will get that done. This is personal.
19. Do we have to accept that school shootings are a thing?
Julian Castro: No, we will have a Democratic house, senate, and president in 2020. We took a vote, we are closer.
Tim Ryan: I support all the gun control measures here. We need to address mental health issues for the people that are committing these crimes. We need mental health reform.
Beto O’Rourke: I have talked to many shooting victims and their families. Universal background checks, red flag laws, and assault weapons bans are things we can all agree on.
Amy Klobuchar: Gun buyback programs are not confiscation. I supported the assault weapons ban. Parkland activists have been incredible.
20. Do you think you could get your supreme court nominees through?
Cory Booker: If you need a license to drive a car, you should need a license to buy and own a firearm. States that did this saw a 40% drop in gun violence. We have to be bold on gun control reform.
Bill De Blasio: If we are going to get these guns off the streets, we have to promote community policing. We have done that in NY and it has driven down crime. A lot of people don’t know this, but I have a black son.
21. Do you have a plan to deal with Mitch McConnell?
Elizabeth Warren: I do. We have to fight and push and have leadership!
John Delaney: We need to operate in a bipartisan manner. We need ideas that work, like universal healthcare without making private insurance illegal. The gun issue, if we become the party of getting things done, we’ll be able to get all these things done.
Cory Booker: I’m black and I live in a predominately black community, so I understand the police problem. We have more black prisoners than we used to have slaves. I helped pass the First Step Act, which will help end the mass incarceration of black Americans.
22. Give me your specifics on climate change. Does your plan save Miami?
Jay Inslee: We have to do something about climate change. It is a crisis, an emergency. I want to pass a 100% clean electrical grid. I am going to make this a priority. It will put 8 million people to work.
Beto O’Rourke: Some of our farmers have flooded this year, and they’re suffering from a trade war. I want to pump $10 trillion into the economy over the next decade. We need to invest in clean energy and make sure we keep our planet clean and balanced. Doing these things will ensure the global temperatures don’t rise another 2 degrees Celsius.
23. What about the people who have negligently built their homes in known flood areas and inside of sea walls. Should those people get bailed out by the government?
Julian Castro: That doesn’t represent the vast majority of the issue. I helped create renewable energy jobs when I was mayor of San Antonio.
24. If pricing carbon isn’t possible, how do we determine climate mitigation?
Tim Ryan: We’ve got to build and grow our way out of this. The democratic party is not connected to the working class.
John Delaney: I introduced the only bipartisan carbon tax bill. All economists agree that a carbon tax works. My idea puts a price on carbon and gives dividends back to the American people. This is our way forward if we are serious about this issue.
25. Defend your childhood stance on gay rights.
Tulsi Gabbard: There is no one in government who should be able to tell someone who to love or marry. I serve on the Equality Caucus and voted for the Equality Act. I used to be socially conservative but I’m not anymore. I would give my life for my LGBTQ fellow soldiers. I will continue to fight for equality.
Cory Booker: It’s not enough. There are incredibly high rates of murder. We need a president who will fight for and protect LGBTQ Americans.
26. What have you done to pander to black and Latino voters?
Amy Klobuchar: My life and career have been about economic opportunity. Child care, retirement, public schools need to work for everyone. Donald Trump and I passed a bill together about this. There is also pay disparity between black and white men. We will work to make sure everyone can vote in this country. We will also do criminal justice reform.
Julian Castro: There are a lot of wrongful deaths in the justice system. A lot of black and Latino people are mistreated by the police.
27. Does the US have a responsibility to intervene concerning genocide?
Beto O’Rourke: Yes. But we must take action with our allies. Russia is responsible for a lot of our troubles. America is stronger when we face problems with a united front.
Bill De Blasio: What about the War Powers Act? We have got to stop going to war without congressional approval.
28. How would you get us out of war in the Middle East, and why weren’t presidents Bush, Obama, or Trump able to do it?
Tim Ryan: I’ve been on the Armed Services Committee for 12 years. You have to stay engaged. We must be engaged in this. The reality is, this president isn’t engaged. A drone that gets shot down costs us $130 million. We could have spent that here at home!
Tulsi Gabbard: Is that what you’re going to tell the parents of the soldiers that were just killed? We just should have been more engaged? That is unacceptable. The money we’ve wasted in Afghanistan should have been invested at home.
Tim Ryan: I wish we were spending this money at home too. But the reality is, that when we aren’t engaged, the Taliban flies planes into buildings.
Tulsi Gabbard: Taliban didn’t attack us on 9/11, Al Qaeda attacked us.
Tim Ryan: The Taliban was protecting them.
Tulsi Gabbard: You know who’s protecting Al Qaeda now? Saudi Arabia.
29. What is the greatest geopolitical threat in America?
John Delaney: The biggest geopolitical issue is China, but the biggest threat is nuclear weapons.
Jay Inslee: Donald Trump.
Tulsi Gabbard: Nuclear War.
Amy Klobuchar: Economically, China. The Middle East and Iran though.
Beto O’Rourke: Climate change.
Elizabeth Warren: Climate change.
Cory Booker: Nuclear proliferation and climate change.
Julian Castro: China and climate change.
Tim Ryan: China.
Bill De Blasio: Russia.
30. As president, would you do anything to address the potential crimes in the Mueller report? If yes, then how?
Beto O’Rourke: Yes. We must start impeachment now to save our democracy, and if they can’t — my Department of Justice will pursue this.
John Delaney: I don’t think anyone is above the law, including the president. However, I support the way Nancy Pelosi is handling this.
Amy Klobuchar: We have got to stop Russian interference.
Closing Statements:
John Delaney: I am from a working-class family. America is built on tangible dreams, not wishful thinking. This is not about me, this is about getting America working again.
Bill De Blasio: We need a candidate that has not only seen the face of poverty but that gave the people $15/hr. I saw a need for universal healthcare and gave it away for free. I saw a need for pre-K and gave it away for free. These things matter, I have done them in NY and want to do them for America.
Jay Inslee: I am running because of climate change. It is a top priority. I’m the only candidate making it a top priority.
Tim Ryan: I have represented a divided community of gay, straight, men, women, black, white. I want to get us back on track. Play offense with an agenda that works for everyone. You will not be forgotten, your voice will be heard.
Tulsi Gabbard: Our nation was founded on the principle of ‘Service above Self’. Our government was supposed to be of, by, and for the people; but our government has been of, by, and for the elite. In my White House, we will fight for liberty, justice, freedom, and equality for all.
Julian Castro: Speaks Spanish. I am a descendant of immigrants. I will work hard so you and your family can have good healthcare, education, and job opportunities.
Amy Klobuchar: 1. I listen to people and I act on it. 2. I can win and I can beat Donald Trump. I have never lost a race. 3. I am not the establishment candidate. People respect me but I’m not backed by the political machine.
Cory Booker: Speaks Spanish. We win fights by rising to our best. This election is a referendum on Donald Trump, but also it’s a referendum on who we are as a country.
Beto O’Rourke: Illegal immigrant children are sleeping on concrete floors. We need a new kind of politics. Climate change, college students, we need a movement that doesn't write anyone off. This is our moment.
Elizabeth Warren: I’m an Oklahoma native who dreamed of being a school teacher. I am in this fight because I believe we can make this country and our government work for everyone, and I will fight for you as hard as I fight for my own family.
Secret Stacy is a best-selling author, entrepreneur, and a senior contributor to CitizenSource, writing with a focus on U.S. elections and politics, media criticism, and illegal immigration. She hails from Little Rock, Arkansas.
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