WESTERVILLE, Ohio Democratic candidates found common ground in denouncing President Donald Trump, but struck a more fractious tone on healthcare, gun policy and money in politics during a crowded presidential primary debate Tuesday night.
The most pointed broadsides were aimed at Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, reflecting her ascendance in the polls, while she and fellow septuagenarian rivals, Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden, sought to assure voters they are hardy enough to occupy the Oval Office.
Twelve candidates the most ever to appear on a debate stage squared off in an arena on the leafy campus of Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, a state Democrats lost to Trump by 8 percentage points in 2016. In the Rust Belt setting, Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota eschewed Midwestern nice for a more pugnacious approach in selling themselves as the best candidates to take back the state.
It was the fourth debate of the primary season, and the first since House Democrats began an impeachment investigation of Trump after his entreaties to Ukraines president for damaging information on a potential 2020 opponent, Biden, spilled into public view.
All candidates on the stage support the inquiry and jostled largely to outdo one another in denouncing the president as corrupt.
Sen. Kamala Harris of California, asked whether her support for removing Trump from office is fair to the president, said her stance involved just being observant, because he has committed crimes in plain sight.
The sole note of hesitancy on the subject came from Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, the last of the Democratic candidates to embrace impeachment.
If the House votes to impeach, the Senate does not vote to remove Donald Trump, he walks out and he feels exonerated, further deepening the divides in this country that we cannot afford, Gabbard said.
Tom Steyer, the Bay Area hedge funder-turned-liberal activist, used his debate stage debut to remind voters of his long-standing quest for impeachment.
Two years ago, I started the Need to Impeach movement, because I knew there was something desperately wrong at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. he said.
The impeachment controversy has been fraught territory for Biden, whose son Hunters position on the board of a Ukrainian gas company is an innuendo-laden obsession for Trump and his allies. There is no evidence Biden or his son committed any wrongdoing.
The candidate largely dodged the question about the appropriateness of Hunter Biden serving on that board while his father served as vice president. Biden instead pointed to the public comments his son made earlier in the day, in which he expressed some regret for his judgment but denied he did anything wrong or illegal.
My sons statement speaks for itself, Biden said. I did my job. I never discussed a single thing with my son about anything having to do with Ukraine. No one has indicated I have.
Biden then shifted the focus to Trump. He is going after me because he knows if I get the nomination I will beat him like a drum, he said.
The impeachment maelstrom, which has forced Biden to revamp his message on the campaign trail, appeared to inoculate him from onstage attacks from his rivals, who appeared wary to echo Trumps line of attack.
