Democratic presidential primary debate (January 14, 2020)
Date: November 3, 2020 |
 Donald Trump Joe Biden Howie Hawkins Jo Jorgensen
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The Democratic Party held a presidential primary debate on January 14, 2020. It was the seventh of 11 Democratic primary debates that took place during the 2020 presidential election.
Candidates had until January 10 to qualify. They needed 225,000 unique contributors and at least 5 percent support in four eligible polls or 7 percent support in two eligible state-level polls. For the full list of requirements, click here.
Six candidates qualified for the debate:
Debate overview
Video and transcript
By the numbers
Candidate highlights
This section includes highlights for each presidential candidate with a focus on policy. The following paraphrased statements were compiled from Rev.com's debate transcript. A candidate's opponents are generally not mentioned in his or her summary unless there was a significant exchange between them.
Joe Biden discussed foreign policy, trade, electability, healthcare, childcare, impeachment, and climate change. Biden said special forces should remain in the Middle East and that a coalition was necessary to defeat stateless terror. He said the informed consent of the American people was necessary to go to war. Biden opposed meeting with North Korea without preconditions. Biden said trade agreements needed environmentalist and labor input and enforcement mechanisms. He said a woman could win the election but the priority should be who can bring the party together. Biden said Bernie Sanders’ plan to pay for Medicare for All was insufficient. He said drug prices could be controlled by limiting what companies can charge. He supported universal infant care and an $8,000 childcare tax credit. Biden said he’d been fighting climate change for decades. He said he would reinstate mileage standards and build new green highways. Biden was the fifth-most active participant in the debate, speaking for 16.1 minutes.
Pete Buttigieg discussed foreign policy, trade, healthcare, childcare, climate change, and electability. Buttigieg said the U.S. should remain engaged in the Middle East without an endless commitment of ground forces. He said Congress should have to vote on military force. Buttigieg supported the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. He said the U.S. needed to move away from a fossil-dependent economy. At $1.5 trillion, Buttigieg said his healthcare plan was less expensive than others. He said childcare costs should be below 7% of a household’s income. He opposed free public college tuition for children of the wealthiest families. He said historic floods and fires showed climate change was not theoretical. He said farmers and industrial workers needed to be enlisted to fight climate change. Buttigieg discussed his support from black officials in South Bend, Congress, and Iowa. He said he could run against Trump on the economy and faith. Buttigieg was the fourth-most active participant in the debate, speaking for 16.6 minutes.
Amy Klobuchar discussed foreign policy, trade, electability, healthcare, education, impeachment, and climate change. Klobuchar said she opposed the Iraq War and highlighted her Senate experience. She said she would leave some troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for counterterrorism and training. Klobuchar said she supported the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement because building a trading bloc in North America made the U.S. stronger against China. She said the debate over Medicare for All was not real since many Democratic senators and governors opposed it. Klobuchar said she supported a nonprofit public option, better access to long-term care, Medicare negotiation, and imported drugs. She said money in education should be connected to the economy and focused on K-12, associate degrees, and job training. She said impeachment was a decency check on the government. She called natural gas a transition fuel to help reach carbon neutrality. Klobuchar was the third-most active participant in the debate, speaking for 17.6 minutes.
Bernie Sanders discussed foreign policy, trade, electability, healthcare, childcare, climate change, and democratic socialism. Sanders criticized Joe Biden’s support for the Iraq War and called the Iraq and Vietnam wars the greatest modern foreign policy disasters. He said the U.S. must stop acting unilaterally and rebuild the United Nations and State Department. He said he opposed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement because it lacked labor and environmental provisions. He said trade agreements were being written to increase corporate profits. Sanders denied saying to Elizabeth Warren that a woman could not win the election. Sanders said Medicare for All would lower overall healthcare costs and end the administrative challenges of healthcare. He said the U.S. should have universal affordable childcare. He said the U.S. needed to lead on moving away from fossil fuels immediately and advocated the Green New Deal. Sanders said his democratic socialist positions would lead to Trump’s defeat. Sanders was the second-most active participant in the debate, speaking for 17.7 minutes.
Tom Steyer discussed his business credentials, foreign policy, climate change, healthcare, college tuition, and impeachment. Steyer said his judgment and experience in international business made him qualified to be commander-in-chief. He said coalitions should be formed to address conflict in the Middle East and climate issues in Australia. He said he would not meet with North Korea without preconditions. He said the U.S. needed to put economic pressure on Iran. On his first day in office, Steyer said he would end Trump’s tariffs, remove biofuel waivers for oil refineries, and declare a state of emergency on climate change. He said the corporate stranglehold on healthcare needed to be broken. As a billionaire, Steyer opposed free college for his children and said money needed to be redistributed to address income inequality. Steyer said impeachment was the right thing to do regardless of the outcome. He said he divested from fossil fuels ten years ago and his fortune was self-made. He said he would beat Trump on the economy. Steyer was the least active participant in the debate, speaking for 12.4 minutes.
Elizabeth Warren discussed foreign policy, trade, electability, healthcare, taxes, childcare, impeachment, and climate change. Warren said defense should be driven by diplomatic and economic tools rather than the defense industry. She said she would bring combat troops back from the Middle East. She said she supported the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement because it would give some relief to workers and farmers. She said corporate lobbyists needed to be removed from trade negotiations. Warren said the women on stage had won every election, while the men had cumulatively lost ten. She said she would use existing presidential powers to reduce the cost of prescription drugs on her first day in office. She said corporate taxes would help fund her healthcare proposal and supported government contracts for generic drug manufacturing. Warren supported universal childcare with a small payment for some families based on income. She advocated for a wealth tax on corporations. To address climate change, she said she would stop new mining and offshore drilling on federal lands. Warren was the most active participant in the debate, speaking for 18.9 minutes.
Qualifications
Next debate: March 15, 2020 |
Debate 1: June 2019 in Miami |
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On December 20, 2019, the Democratic National Committee released the critiera for qualifying for the debate via polling and fundraising.[1]
Polling criteria
A candidate had two ways to meet the polling threshold to qualify for the January debate:
- Four Poll Threshold: Receive 5 percent support or more in at least four national or early state polls—Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and/or Nevada. The four polls must be sponsored by different poll sponsors or in different geographical areas if sponsored by the same poll sponsor.
- Early State Poll Threshold: Receive 7 percent support or more in at least two single state polls in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and/or Nevada. The two polls may be from the same geographical area and poll sponsor.
Eligible polls must be sponsored by one of the following poll sponsors:
- Associated Press
- ABC News/Washington Post
- CBS News/YouGov
- CNN
- Des Moines Register
- Fox News
- Monmouth University
- National Public Radio
- NBC News/Wall Street Journal
- NBC News/Marist
- New York Times
- Nevada Independent/Mellman Group
- Quinnipiac University
- University of New Hampshire
- USA Today/Suffolk University
- Winthrop University
Eligible polls must also meet the following requirements:
- Each poll must be publicly released between November 14, 2019, and January 10, 2020.
- Each poll’s candidate support question must have been conducted by reading or presenting a list of Democratic presidential primary candidates to respondents. Poll questions using an open-ended or un-aided question to gauge presidential primary support will not count.
- Each polling result must be the topline number—the aggregated result of the poll—listed in the original public release from the poll sponsor, whether or not it is a rounded or weighted number.[1]
Fundraising
Candidates must also provide verifiable evidence that they reached the following fundraising thresholds:
- Donations from at least 225,000 unique donors; and
- A minimum of 1,000 unique donors per state in at least 20 states.
Who qualified?
The following chart shows which Democratic presidential candidates qualified for the debate and how far each candidate was from crossing the polling and donor thresholds based on media reports.
Prior debate: December 19, 2019
Video and transcript
- Watch the debate on PBS NewsHour's YouTube channel here.
- Read The Washington Post transcript of the debate here.
By the numbers
Candidate highlights
This section includes highlights for each presidential candidate with a focus on policy. The following paraphrased statements were compiled from The Washington Post's debate transcript. A candidate's opponents are generally not mentioned in his or her summary unless there was a significant exchange between them.
Joe Biden discussed impeachment, the economy, climate change, foreign policy, immigration, and healthcare. Biden said it was a constitutional necessity to impeach Trump. He said under Trump, the middle class was getting crushed and the working class had no way up. Biden said transitioning to a green economy would provide more opportunity and higher-paying jobs for displaced energy workers. Biden said Guantanamo Bay should be closed and Israel and Palestine should reach a two-state solution. Biden said China has Uighurs in concentration camps and recommended the U.S. move 60 percent of its sea power to East Asia. He said he was running because of his experience. Biden would not commit to a one-term presidency. Biden said he had advocated keeping a small military footprint in Afghanistan and opposed the surge. He called for adding a public option to the Affordable Care Act. Biden was the fifth-most active participant, speaking for 15.5 minutes.
Pete Buttigieg discussed impeachment, the economy, tuition, climate change, foreign policy, fundraising, immigration, and reparations. Buttigieg said Americans should not grow cynical because of impeachment. He advocated raising the minimum wage. Buttigieg called for a carbon tax and renewable energy research. He said the U.S. was no longer considered reliable by its allies and the Trump administration was silent on human rights issues in China. Buttigieg said he was the only person on stage who wasn’t a millionaire or billionaire and that he welcomed support from all donors to defeat Trump. He said Elizabeth Warren could not denounce big-ticket fundraisers when she was still benefiting from them. Buttigieg said it was a moral obligation to give immigrant children separated from their families a fast track to citizenship. He supported investments in minority-owned businesses and HBCUs and a commission to review reparations. He said he would appoint judges who believe voting rights are human rights. Buttigieg was the fourth-most active participant, speaking for 19.4 minutes.
Amy Klobuchar discussed impeachment, trade, climate change, voter registration, foreign policy, electability, immigration, the Supreme Court, and healthcare. On impeachment, Klobuchar called Donald Trump’s actions a global Watergate. She said she supported the USMCA trade agreement because of its labor, environmental, and pharmaceutical provisions. Klobuchar said she would rejoin the Paris climate agreement and restore clean power rules and gas mileage standards. She said all Americans should have the right to vote and advocated automatic voter registration. Klobuchar said her foreign policy would be a return to sanity. She said there have not been enough women in politics and what matters in this race is the ability to win Midwestern votes and change policy. Klobuchar discussed her immigration record in Congress and said Pete Buttigieg dismissed the political experience of other candidates. She said Democrats should build on the Affordable Care Act rather than completely redoing healthcare. Klobuchar was the second-most active participant, speaking for 19.6 minutes.
Bernie Sanders discussed impeachment, trade, climate change, race, foreign policy, immigration, electability, education, and healthcare. Sanders said Trump’s administration was the most corrupt in modern U.S. history. He said he opposed the USMCA because it would not stop outsourcing and did not discuss climate change. He said inflation-adjusted wages showed the economy was not great. Sanders said a national emergency should be declared on climate change. He said black Americans were most negatively affected by climate change and economic exploitation. Sanders said the U.S. should be pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinean. He commented on the number of billionaire donations to Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg. He said Democrats needed to increase voter turnout by creating excitement for a progressive agenda. Sanders said the U.S. should cancel all student debt. Sanders said he was wrong to vote for the war in Afghanistan. Under Medicare for All, he said taxes would increase while premiums, copayments, and deductibles would be eliminated. Sanders was the most active participant, speaking for 20 minutes.
Tom Steyer discussed impeachment, tax policy, climate change, China, immigration, economic issues, and individuals with disabilities. Steyer said that Trump administration officials should publicly testify in the impeachment trial. On the economy, he supported a wealth tax and equilibrating taxes on passive investment income. He called on Pete Buttigieg to prioritize climate change more. Steyer said he would declare a state of emergency on climate change. He advocated wind and solar energy over nuclear energy. He said the U.S. needed to work with China as a frenemy on climate change. Steyer said Trump was corrupt and only he had the experience needed to defeat Trump on economic issues. He also said Trump was against immigration by nonwhite people. Steyer said tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations should be undone to help people with disabilities. Steyer was the sixth-most active participant in the debate, speaking for 11.7 minutes.
Elizabeth Warren discussed impeachment, corruption, taxes, energy, foreign policy, democracy, and disability policy. Warren said Donald Trump’s impeachment was a constitutional moment. She said the government works great for the wealthy and no one else, calling it corruption. She said a wealth tax would improve the economy, education, and childcare rather than stifle growth. Warren said she would not expand nuclear energy. She said she would close Guantanamo Bay and that America needed to treat allies better than it treated dictators. She discussed taking 100,000 selfies on the campaign trail and elevating the voices of the powerless. Warren criticized Pete Buttigieg for holding a private fundraiser and said she did not sell access to her time. She advocated increasing access to housing and education for people with disabilities. Warren said on her first day in office she would lower the cost of common drugs like EpiPens and insulin. Warren was the third-most active participant in the debate, speaking for 19.6 minutes.
Andrew Yang discussed impeachment, financial insecurity, climate change, race, China, technology, immigration, and disability policy. Yang said Democrats should address the issues that led to Trump’s election rather than obsess over impeachment. He said high GDP and corporate profits did not reflect increasing rates of suicide, overdoses, and financial insecurity. On the environment, Yang advocated relocating coastal residents affected by climate change and keeping nuclear energy on the table. He connected his status as the only candidate of color on stage to the average voters’ lack of disposable income to contribute to campaigns. Yang said an international coalition was needed to bring China to the table on technology standards. He said he would prioritize helping DACA recipients in his first 100 days. On integrating workers with disabilities, Yang said we need to stop confusing economic value and human value. Yang was the least active participant in the debate, speaking for 10.8 minutes.
Democratic presidential primary debates, 2019-2020
- See also: Democratic presidential nomination, 2020
The following table provides an overview of the date, location, host, and number of participants in each scheduled 2020 Democratic presidential primary debate.
Democratic presidential debate participation, 2019-2020
History of televised presidential debates
Although the 1960 general election debate between John F. Kennedy (D) and Richard Nixon (R) is frequently cited as the first televised presidential debate, two came before it.
The first televised presidential debate took place on May 21, 1956, when an ABC affiliate in Miami broadcast a Democratic primary debate between Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefauver.[2] In the general election that year, Stevenson and incumbent President Dwight Eisenhower (R) used surrogates in a televised debate on November 4, 1956. They were represented by former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (D) and Sen. Margaret Chase Smith (R), respectively.[3]
The Kennedy-Nixon debates that took place four years later showed the importance of television as a visual medium, "Nixon, pale and underweight from a recent hospitalization, appeared sickly and sweaty, while Kennedy appeared calm and confident. As the story goes, those who listened to the debate on the radio thought Nixon had won. But those listeners were in the minority. ... Those that watched the debate on TV thought Kennedy was the clear winner. Many say Kennedy won the election that night," TIME reported on the 50th anniversary of the event.[4]
While a handful of presidential primary debates were held between 1964 and 1972, the televised presidential debate did not become a staple of American politics until 1976.[5]
Overview
The following chart shows the number of presidential and vice presidential debates that took place in each election cycle between 1960 and 2024.
List of presidential debates, 1960-2024
The following table shows the date, location, and moderators for each presidential debate between 1960 and 2024.[6]
| Presidential debates, 1960-2024 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Location | Moderator |
| September 26, 1960 | Chicago, IL | Howard K. Smith, CBS News |
| October 7, 1960 | Washington, D.C. | Frank McGee, NBC |
| October 13, 1960 | Los Angeles, CA / New York, NY | Bill Shadel, ABC |
| October 21, 1960 | New York, NY | Quincy Howe, ABC News |
| September 23, 1976 | Philadelphia, PA | Edwin Newman, NBC News |
| October 6, 1976 | San Francisco, CA | Pauline Frederick, NPR |
| October 22, 1976 | Williamsburg, VA | Barbara Walters, ABC News |
| September 21, 1980 | Baltimore, MD | Bill Moyers, PBS |
| October 28, 1980 | Cleveland, OH | Howard K. Smith, ABC News |
| October 7, 1984 | Louisville, KY | Barbara Walters, ABC News |
| October 21, 1984 | Kansas City, MO | Edwin Newman, formerly NBC News |
| September 25, 1988 | Winson-Salem, N.C. | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 13, 1988 | Los Angeles, CA | Bernard Shaw, CNN |
| October 11, 1992 | St. Louis, MO | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 15, 1992 | Richmond, VA | Carole Simpson, ABC |
| October 19, 1992 | East Lansing, MI | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 6, 1996 | Hartford, CT | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 16, 1996 | San Diego, CA | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 3, 2000 | Boston, MA | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 11, 2000 | Winson-Salem, N.C. | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 17, 2000 | St. Louis, MO | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| September 30, 2004 | Coral Gables, FL | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 8, 2004 | St. Louis, MO | Charles Gibson, ABC |
| October 13, 2004 | Tempe, AZ | Bob Schieffer, CBS |
| September 26, 2008 | Oxford, MS | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 7, 2008 | Nashville, TN | Tom Brokaw, NBC |
| October 15, 2008 | Hempstead, NY | Bob Schieffer, CBS |
| October 3, 2012 | Denver, CO | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 16, 2012 | Hempstead, NY | Candy Crowley, CNN |
| October 22, 2012 | Boca Raton, FL | Bob Schieffer, CBS |
| September 26, 2016 | Hempstead, NY | Lester Holt, NBC |
| October 9, 2016 | St. Louis, MO | Martha Raddatz, ABC Anderson Cooper, CNN |
| October 19, 2016 | Las Vegas, NV | Chris Wallace, FOX |
| September 29, 2020 | Cleveland, OH | Chris Wallace, FOX |
| October 22, 2020 | Nashville, TN | Kristen Welker, NBC |
| June 27, 2024 | Atlanta, GA | Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, CNN |
| September 10, 2024 | Philadelphia, PA | David Muir and Linsey Davis, ABC |
See also
- Presidential candidates, 2020
- Democratic presidential nomination, 2020
- Republican presidential nomination, 2020
- Presidential debates (2015-2016)
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 DNC Announces Details For Seventh Democratic Presidential Primary Debate," December 20, 2019
- ↑ Illinois Channel, "From 1956, the First Televised Presidential Debate," June 15, 2016
- ↑ United States Senate, "The First Televised Presidential Debate," accessed June 12, 2019
- ↑ TIME, "How the Nixon-Kennedy Debate Changed the World," September 23, 2010
- ↑ Center for Politics, "Eight Decades of Debate," July 30, 2015
- ↑ Commission on Presidential Debates, "Debate History," accessed September 28, 2020
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