Harris attacks Biden's record on race in Democratic debate's key moment | US news | The Guardian 28/6/19 7)43

Harris attacks Biden's record on

race in Democratic debate's key
moment
California senator’s experience of school integration overshadows
expected face6off between ex6vice6president and Bernie Sanders

Second Democratic debate: as it happened

Lauren
Ten more Gambino
Democratic presidential candidates clashed in Miami on Thursday night over the
in
bestMiami
approach to remove Donald Trump from office in 2020, in a contentious debate
featuring an explosive challenge from senator Kamala Harris on race, which rattled the
Fri 28 Jun 2019
frontrunner,
05.06 BST Joe Biden.

On a stage divided along generational and ideological lines, the debate – the second over
two days to accommodate the huge field of candidates vying for the Democratic nomination
– saw Biden square up against Vermont senator Bernie Sanders.

But the two veteran politicians were overshadowed by other strong performances, which
highlighted rifts in the party, and posed the question of how aggressively the next president
should push to transform the US economy, including on issues of healthcare and how much
to tax the wealthiest Americans.

The most dramatic moment of the evening came in response to a question about race and
policing, when Harris interjected, saying that she had a right to respond as the only black
candidate on stage. The California senator then directed her comments to Biden, zeroing in
on his record on race.

“I do not believe you are a racist,” Harris said, looking directly at the former vice-president.
“But,” she continued, “it is personal and it was actually hurtful to hear you talk about the
reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the
segregation of race in this country.”

Her attack was a reference to a remark Biden made recently on the campaign trail in which
he spoke fondly of his relationship with segregationist senators. When called on by his rivals
to apologize, he refused.

“That is a mischaracterization of my position across the board. I did not praise racists,”
Biden said.

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Harris then attacked Biden for his past opposition to bussing minority students to schools in
majority-white districts. She said when he opposed bussing, there was a little black girl in
Oakland, California, who was being bussed to a better school.

“And that little girl was me,” Harris said.

Growing visibly upset, Biden said he had not opposed bussing: “What I opposed is bussing
ordered by the Department of education. That’s what I opposed.”

For the candidates on stage at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the second installment of back-
to-back debates, the evening presented a national platform to present their pitch to be the
Trump’s Democratic opponent in the 2020 election.

It was a good night for South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has soared from near-
anonymity to near the top of the Democratic field, and was warmly received on the debate
stage. Buttigieg, who is openly gay, spoke about his husband, Chasten, and their
experiences of student debt.

Unlike the previous night, the candidates savaged Trump by name. Sanders called Trump a
“pathological liar” who conned American workers and said the best way to beat Trump to
“expose him for the fraud that he is”.

Trump, who was attending the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, found time to comment on the
debate, criticizing the candidates for their stances on immigration and healthcare, tweeting:
“How about taking care of American Citizens first!? That’s the end of that race!”

The candidates broadly embraced an ambitious agenda, a sign of Democrats’ leftward shift
on social and economic issues and a trend Republicans hope to exploit by painting the party
as socialist in the election race.

“If we don’t clearly define that we are not socialists, the Republicans are going to come at us
every way they can and call us socialists,” said Hickenlooper, who has been critical of
Sanders’ policies.

Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, and Biden, an avowed moderate, represent

the two competing visions for the party and the country.

Sanders had kicked off proceedings, launching into his classic stump speech, followed by
former vice-president Biden, who began with an attack Donald Trump.

But it was California congressman Eric Swalwell who provided the first surprise of the night,
with an attack on Biden, repeatedly saying he needed to “pass the torch” to younger
Democrats.

As moderators tried to move the discussion on, squabbling erupted, prompting the first
standout line from Harris: “America does not want to witness a food fight. They want to
know how we’re gonna put food on the table.”

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Harris attacks Biden's record on race in Democratic debate's key moment | US news | The Guardian 28/6/19 7)43

Each candidate would have been hoping for the kind of positive reception the New Jersey
senator Cory Booker, Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren and former housing secretary
Julián Castro received on Wednesday night, during the first of the two debates.

As on Wednesday, the debate lineup reflected the diversity of a party that is increasingly led
by women and people of color. On stage, there were three women – the Harris, New York
senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and author Marianne Williamson – as well as Buttigieg. The tech
entrepreneur Andrew Yang is Asian American and Harris is black and Asian American.

The debate also included two Coloradans: Senator Michael Bennet, who had previously
served as the chief of staff for the other, former governor John Hickenlooper.

For those who have not followed the 2020 election, which is still 15 months away, it was
likely to be their first time seeing lower-profile candidates like Yang and Williamson, a new
age guru and author, on the national stage.

Yang spoke for just 2.4 minutes during the debate, the shortest time of any candidate, while
Biden spoke longest, at 11.5 minutes, and Harris spoke for 10.8 minutes.

Biden is the best-known candidate in the field and has consistently led national and state
polls since he entered the race in April. But he has stumbled in recent weeks.

Still, with support from black voters and an appeal to disaffected Democrats in the midwest,
Biden believes he can rebuild the multiracial coalition that twice elected Barack Obama,
under whom he served as vice-president.

Sanders, by contrast, has called for a political revolution, championing progressive policies
that would transform the US economy. His political influence is reflected in the Democratic
field, where two candidates on stage on Wednesday raised their hands in support of a key
pillar of his Medicare for All healthcare proposal that would eliminate private insurance
companies.

For all the attention on the field’s heavyweights, the evening offered an opportunity for
Harris to break out, and she did.

It was also an opportunity for Buttigieg to demonstrate that he has the experience and
leadership for the nation’s highest office.

Buttigieg, who is facing sharp criticism over his handling of a fatal shooting of a black man
by a South Bend police officer who had not turned on his body camera, acknowledged his
failure as a mayor to diversify the city’s police force with a powerful statement.

He said: “I am determined to bring about a day when a white person and a black person
driving a vehicle feels the exact same thing when they see a policeman – a feeling of safety
and not fear.”

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Topics

US elections 2020
US politics
Democrats
Bernie Sanders
Joe Biden
Kamala Harris
Pete Buttigieg
news

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