LAS VEGAS (AP) – New York billionaire Mike Bloomberg played defense in his presidential debate debut, as Democrats savaged the former mayor with questions about his record and past comments related to race, gender and his personal wealth.
The aggressive confrontation in Las Vegas threatened to further scramble the party’s urgent quest to defeat President Donald Trump in November. Bloomberg, the former New York mayor, was forced to defend his divisive record on race, gender and Wall Street in his debate-stage debut. Sanders, appearing in his ninth debate of the 2020 primary season, tried to beat back pointed questions about his health and his ability to defeat Trump as a self-described “democratic socialist.”
Bloomberg’s fielded attacks from all 5 contenders; one of the most glaring was from Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, who targeted Bloomberg’s alleged inappropriate comments to women and the LGBTQ community:
This:
"I'd like to talk about who we're running against, a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse faced lesbians. I'm not talking about Donald Trump. I'm talking about Mayor Bloomberg."
Elizabeth Warren on Mike Bloombergpic.twitter.com/5AUJW0iBC0#DemocraticDebate
— Mona Eltahawy (@monaeltahawy) February 20, 2020
Bloomberg was firm and unapologetic about his wealth and how he has used it to affect change important to Democrats.
One debate moment can cause a candidate to slip badly, and Mike Bloomberg’s refusal to release women from non-disclosure agreements struck with his company marked a low point for his nascent candidacy #DemDebate https://t.co/g0ZfjfgUtK pic.twitter.com/OY8f5LyIyb
— POLITICO (@politico) February 20, 2020
While Bloomberg was the shiny new object in Wednesday night’s debate, the Democratic candidates also raised pointed questions about Bernie Sanders’ take-no-prisoners politics. Mike Bloomberg has nabbed three new congressional endorsements on the heels of his rocky debate performance, underscoring his staying power in the Democratic primary race despite an onslaught of attacks from opponents. Reps. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Nita Lowey of New York and Pete Aguilar of California all endorsed Bloomberg Thursday. That brings his total number of congressional endorsements to 15, behind only Joe Biden, who has more than three times that amount.
"You know what Mr. Bloomberg, wasn't you who made all that money, maybe your workers made some role in that as well, and it is important that those workers share the benefits"@BernieSanders REPRESENTING THE WORKERS!#DemDebate pic.twitter.com/iKcUIcRvhL
— People for Bernie (@People4Bernie) February 20, 2020
Among other issues, gun control:
Thank you @JoeBiden for bringing up the urgent need to fight gun violence—an important topic the #demdebate didn’t cover tonight. #democraticdebate pic.twitter.com/gxE86rd38M
— Giffords (@GiffordsCourage) February 20, 2020
There were also tense moments between Fort Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttegieg and Senator Amy Klobachar:
Buttigieg: "You're staking your candidacy on your Washington experience. You're on the committee that oversees border security."
Klobuchar: "Are you trying to say that I'm dumb? Are you mocking me here, Pete?" #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/YxkvtJZlkq
— The Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) February 20, 2020
The ninth debate of this cycle featured the most aggressive sustained period of infighting in the Democrats’ yearlong search for a presidential nominee.
