MIAMI — Rival Democratic presidential contenders pummeled former vice president Joe Biden with searing, emotional critiques Thursday at their first debate — denouncing his record on racial issues and calling on him to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders.
Sen. Kamala D. Harris of California, who commanded the event at several points in the night, led the charge.
“I do not believe you are a racist. I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground,” Harris said. “But I also believe, and it’s personal . . . it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on segregation of race in this country.”
She accused him of opposing policies that allowed black girls like her to attend integrated schools. “There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day,” she said. “That little girl was me.”
Biden looked away as Harris spoke, appearing emotionally affected by the attack as he attempted to defend himself. “Mischaracterization of my position across the board,” Biden said. “I did not praise racists. That is not true.”
“I was a public defender. I didn’t become a prosecutor,” he added, referencing controversy over Harris’s own record on criminal justice in California before she became a senator.
The scene at the first Democratic primary debate in Miami
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A field of 20 presidential candidates is split into two groups of 10 for the first debate of the 2020 election, taking place over two nights, June 26 and 27, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami.
Harris was not the only one to set her sights on Biden. Sen. Michael F. Bennet (Colo.) attacked him for striking a deal with Republican leaders to keep some of George W. Bush’s tax cuts. And Rep. Eric Swalwell (Calif.), 38, opened a generational front, calling Biden, 76, to “pass the torch” to a new generation of leaders.
Biden’s game plan — to focus on Trump and his own policies and experience — was thrown off track by rivals who repeatedly interrupted each other and disregarded the instructions of moderators. Candidates had clearly learned from watching Wednesday’s debate between a different group of Democratic candidates that there was little cost for breaking the debate rules.
Biden was able at times to lead the rest of the stage in a set of direct attacks on Trump. Calling him a liar, a phony and a failure who did not have the interests of the American people, the candidates collectively took a different approach than the Wednesday debate participants.
Policy distinction between the liberal and moderate wings of the party, a focus of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, also faded into the background for much of the night.
Biden went so far as to blame President Trump for the current state of income inequality in the country, which has been growing by most measures for decades. “Look, Donald Trump has put us in a horrible situation,” he said, slamming the tax cuts signed into law by Trump as a source of “enormous income inequality.”
Others piled on. “He’s torn apart the moral fabric of this country,” said Sen. Kristin Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). Author Marianne Williamson accused the Trump administration of kidnapping migrant children, a reference to the president’s family-separation policy.
Trump, who was attending the Group of 20 summit in Japan, was paying attention to the debate and weighed in after all 10 Democrats raised their hands to declare that they would support providing health care for undocumented immigrants.
“All Democrats just raised their hands for giving millions of illegal aliens unlimited health care,” Trump said on Twitter during the debate. “How about taking care of American Citizens first!? That’s the end of that race!”
Asked if they believed crossing the border into the United States without proper documentation should be downgraded from a criminal offense to a civil offense, almost every candidate again raised their hand.
The display, which Republicans seized on as evidence of Democratic support for “open borders,” came a day after the issue of decriminalizing undocumented migrants emerged as a flash point during the first round of the debate. Former housing and urban development secretary Julián Castro sharply criticized former congressman Beto O’Rourke of Texas for opposing legislation to repeal part of U.S. immigration law that allows for criminal prosecution of migrants who come to the United States without proper documentation.
On Thursday, there was near unanimity in supporting that kind of policy — an example of the leftward shift of the party since Trump’s election.
“Let’s remember, that’s not just a theoretical exercise,” South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg said. “That criminalization, that is the basis for family separation.”
Biden appeared to raise his hand in favor or decriminalization as well, but sidestepped the question when asked directly whether he supported decriminalizing crossing the border without proper documentation.
“The first thing — the first thing I would do is unite families,” Biden said.
Health care dominated the early portion of the debate, with the candidates discussing ideas for moving toward universal coverage. Sanders and Harris were the only two candidates to raise their hands when asked if they would eliminate private health insurance in favor of a government-run plan, echoing similar pledges Wednesday by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“We will substantially lower the cost of health care in this country because we’ll stop the greed of the insurance companies,” Sanders said, arguing that Americans would pay higher taxes — but lower overall costs — under his plan.
Several candidates sought to show their personal experience with a health-care system that many Americans tell pollsters is their top priority.
Buttigieg said his father was able to navigate the health-care system during a terminal illness due to his Medicare coverage. Bennet, who recently battled prostate cancer, said he opposed getting rid of private insurance. Swalwell, the father of a young child, said he was just in the emergency room and battles insurance companies weekly.
Buttigieg’s appearance was his first national appearance since a police officer in South Bend shot and killed an African American man. The shooting highlighted the racial tensions that have lingered there under his leadership, and Buttigieg drew public criticism of his inability to diversify the South Bend police force and his handling of the victim’s family. Buttigieg, a Harvard graduate and military veteran, has acknowledged his need to build trust with minority voters.
The race conversation began with Buttigieg, who was asked why his city, which is 26 percent black, is policed by a force that is just 6 percent black.
“Because I didn’t get it done,” Buttigieg said.
“This is an issue that is facing our community and so many communities around the country,” Buttigieg said. “And until we move policing out from the shadow of systemic racism, whatever this particular incident teaches us, we will be left with the bigger problem of the fact that there is a wall of mistrust put up one racist act at a time.”
That response did not satisfy others on the stage. Former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper contrasted Buttigieg’s response with his own handling of a police shooting when he was mayor of Denver.
“The community came together and we created an Office of the Independent Monitor, a Civilian Oversight Commission, and we diversified the police force in two years,” Hickenlooper said. “We actually did de-escalation training.”
Swalwell also added to the critique, saying Buttigieg should shake up the police department. “You’re the mayor,” Swalwell told Buttigieg. “You should fire the chief.”
Then Harris, one of only two people of color on the stage, asked to speak, positioning herself as the candidate best qualified to handle racial tension — and therefore, best able to stage what amounted to a personal attack on the former vice president.
It was one of many authoritative moments for Harris, who channeled the forceful prosecutor approach that earned her national attention in Senate hearings with Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, Attorney General William P. Barr and others. Since drawing 22,000 people to her January campaign launch in Oakland, Calif., Harris has failed to seize a place in the top three in early polls, hovering just outside the tier consistently occupied by Biden, Sanders and, more recently, Warren.
Harris began making a case against Biden by offering delicate criticism of former president Barack Obama’s record of deporting millions of undocumented immigrants — saying that while she respected Obama, she disagreed with his deportation policy.
She went in for the more direct hit on Biden’s record on race, which ended with her asking if Biden stands by his position on busing today.
“I did not oppose busing in America,” Biden said. “What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education.”
At one point, as Swalwell argued that Biden should pass the torch, Buttigieg jumped in to say he, the youngest person on the stage, should be talking about generational change. Gillibrand tried to jump in over him. Harris raised her voice through the cacophony.
“Hey, guys. America does not want a food fight,” Harris said. “They want to hear how we’re going to put food on their table.”
