On the second night of the first round of Democratic debates, ten more candidates took to the stage and engaged in both friendly and intense competition within the two-hour time span. The debates seemingly went from 0 to 100 a little quicker than expected, as the ten presidential hopefuls exchanged their plans for health care, taxes, student debt, immigration, race and more.

Last night's candidates included former Vice President Joe Biden, current Senators Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand and Michael Bennet; Colorado Representative Eric Swalwell, former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper, tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang, author Marianne Williamson and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg. 

Here are the 6 most notable moments from night two of the Democratic debates.


1. Sen. Harris got her fellow candidates in order, giving many of us flashbacks to our childhoods. 

Early in the debate, following Biden's list of education proposals, the candidates got into a bit of an escalated argument, with Buttigieg, Sanders and Gillibrand talking over one another.

In that moment, Harris commanded the room when she said, "America does not want to witness a food fight; they want to know how we're going to put food on their table."

Everyone fell silent.

2. Biden insisted on Obamacare.

When asked about his thoughts and plans for universal health care, Biden reminded the audience of his personal encounters with needing instant health care and being blessed enough not to worry about the coverage. In 1972, he lost his first wife and daughter in a tragic car accident, and his two sons were also injured. Decades later, in 2013, one of his sons was diagnosed with cancer and given months to live.

He proceeded to praise the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare and insisted on his belief that we should build on its success rather than replace it with Sanders' “Medicare-for-All” plan.

“The quickest, fastest way to do it is built on Obamacare, to build on what we did," Biden said.

Biden also expressed that he is against any Democrat and any Republican who opposes Obamacare. 

3. Williamson let us know that, unlike her opponents, she is not focused on policy. 

When asked about how she's planning to lower the cost of prescription drugs, Williamson's response took viewers (and the candidates) by surprise.

"I'll tell you one thing, it’s really nice if we have all these plans," the spiritual advisor said. "But if you think we beat Donald Trump by just having all these plans, you’ve got another thing coming … because he didn’t win by saying he had a plan. He won by simply saying, 'Make America Great Again'."

"We have to get deeper than just these superficial fixes, as important as they are. Even if we’re just talking about the superficial fixes, ladies and gentlemen, we don’t have a health care system in the United States; we have a sickness care system in the United States. We just wait until somebody gets sick and then we talk about who is going pay for the treatment and how they’re going to be treated."

4. Buttigieg addressed current race relations in his city.

At the top of the second hour of the debate, Rachel Maddow directed a question regarding race to South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

He addressed the racial gap in his town and the recent incident of Eric Jack Logan, an unarmed Black man killed by a white police officer who was not wearing a body camera.

Maddow read from her notes that although the city of South Bend is 26% Black, the city's police force is only 6% Black. Buttigieg acknowledged his desire to strengthen the strained relationship between police and the community.

"I hope for the day that when a White person gets pulled over by the police and a Black person gets pulled over by the police, they will be able to feel the exact same thing," Buttigieg said. 

5. Williamson called for reparations for African Americans.

Williamson was the first to bring up the topic of reparations and her ideas on executing a feasible plan. She was unafraid to address her proposal, which includes $200 billion to $500 billion in reparations for slavery over a period of 20 years.

6. Kamala Harris tore into Joe Biden's past work against civil rights.

Senator Harris did what many were not expecting her to do. Before last night's debate, Biden was the front-runner candidate, according to polls. Now, folks are unsure of where he'll land on the polls. Harris recalled Biden's support of segregationists. 

Directed towards Biden, Harris said, "I do not believe you are a racist, and I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground. But it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two U.S. senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country." 

She continued, "You also worked with them to oppose bussing. And there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bussed to school every day. And that little girl was me."

In his response, Biden said he did not oppose bussing in America, but he did oppose bussing by the Department of Education. However, Harris was not backing down.

Watch below:

From sharing personal childhood stories to intense exchanges, these candidates gave the American people debate and a show. This debate may clearly predict the outcome of which candidates soar to the top of the polls and which candidates sink to the bottom. The second scheduled Democratic debates will be held July 30 and July 31 in Detroit.

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