Democrat Party debates in New Hampshire

Written by: Isabelle Hendrich, staff writer

NEW HAMPSHIRE— The New Hampshire debate aired live on ABC, on Feb. 7, 2020. It was the eighth debate of the 2020 Presidential election and the second of 2020.

The New Hampshire Primary followed on Tuesday, Feb. 11. U.S Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), won the popular vote for Democrat nominee in New Hampshire. 

Sanders barely won over former mayor Pete Buttigieg, with only 1.3 percent more of the votes. Buttigieg was the mayor of South Bend, Indiana from 2012 to 2020 before running for the presidency. With such a close margin of votes, both received nine delegates.

Although Sanders won the popular vote in Iowa and New Hampshire, Buttigieg has two more delegates than Sanders who has 21, while Buttigieg has 23. The delegates are people in the Democrat party who will eventually vote for the Democrat nominee at the Democrat Convention in Milwaukee, Wis. 

To win a political nomination, a candidate has to have at least 1,991 delegates. Buttigieg has two more than Sanders right now because of the way the Democrat Party apportioned the national convention delegates in Iowa.

The seven candidates who debated include former vice president Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, U.S Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), U.S Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Tom Steyer, U.S Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Andrew Yang. 

Out of the seven people running for the Democrat nomination, only two have had no previous political experience. Steyer is a billionaire philanthropist and liberal activist, while Yang is an entrepreneur and lawyer. 

U.S Rep. John Delaney (D-MD), former United States Representative, dropped out of the race just after Iowa’s debate but before the cause. In an interview, Delany said he did in order to “not take away support from the other candidates.” 

Although Delaney was not the most popular candidate, this was especially shocking since he had one of the longest campaigns in history. Delaney announced his cadency on July 28, 2017, having a two and a half year campaign until now.

On Friday during the Democrat debate in New Hampshire, the candidates discussed topics such as gun control, abortion, racial inequality. They also discussed who has the most experience to be President and who is most likely to beat President Donald Trump, a Republican. 

The other candidates especially outed Buttigieg for his inexperience, young age, inability to beat Trump because of his liberal political reforms. What also hurts Buttigieg is that he is openly gay and married to Chasten Glezman (now Chasten Buttigieg) since Americans might not be ready for a gay Presidant.  

Sanders was also outed by Klobuchar who said his healthcare plan is “not real” because two-thirds of the Democrat party do not support it. 

Surprisingly, in the midst of the debate, Klobuchar pulled ahead of Warren in popularity, who had previously won several debates. 

Whereas Iowa held a caucus, New Hampshire held a primary to determine which candidate wins the state by popular vote and who wins the most delegates. 

While a caucus and primary are basically the same, a caucus is “a meeting of party leaders or party members to select candidates, elect convention delegates and establish the party’s policy position on specific issues.” 

A primary, on the other hand, is “a preliminary election in which voters of each party nominate candidates for office.”

With Sanders in the lead, Buttigieg is just behind him in votes while having more delegates, and Amy Klobuchar is surprisingly close behind, placing herself in third place in New Hampshire’s primary. The next caucus will take place on Feb. 22 in Nevada, and the next primary will occur in South Carolina on February 29, 2020.

 Isabelle Hendrich is a communications studies major and missions minor at Bryan College. She is on the cross-country team. Besides running, Isabelle also likes to read and do crafts. She is also a triplet whose siblings, Benjamin and Savannah, are also attending Bryan College.