Imagine a president focused on protecting our health care
It was health care—not “fake news” or “witch hunts” or racist insults—that dominated last night’s debate.
In the face of Trump and the GOP’s relentless attacks on quality, affordable coverage, it’s no surprise that health care is voters’ number one priority. The candidates honored that with a robust debate over how we improve and protect American health care and move toward universal coverage.
Share this graphic to spread the word: Our national debate should be about a progressive vision for America—not racism and lies.
On stage last night, Democratic candidates shared their visions for tackling other key issues, too:
- Corruption: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) called out the dangerous corruption in Washington: “Our biggest problem in Washington is corruption. It is giant corporations that have taken our government and are holding it by the throat. We need to have the courage to fight back against that.”
- Climate change: Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) laid out an inclusive vision for combating climate change: “We don’t have more than ten years to get this right, and we won’t meet that challenge with half steps or half measures…We do it with everyone in this country. We bring everyone into the solution.”
- Income inequality: Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) decried Trump’s tax law and income inequality in the U.S.: “Companies like Amazon…did not pay one nickel in federal income tax. Tonight, half of the American people are living paycheck to paycheck, and yet, 49% of all new income goes to the top 1%.”
- Prescription drug prices: Governor Steve Bullock (D-MT) pushed for negotiation to lower outrageously high drug prices: “We pay more for prescription drugs than any place, actually, in the world. We have nothing to show for it. Negotiate prescription drug prices. End surprise medical billing.”
- Immigration: Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN) blasted Trump’s cruel immigration policies: “It’s not just a crisis of immigration—it’s a crisis of cruelty and incompetence that has created a humanitarian disaster on our southern border. It is a stain on the United States of America.”
- Gun violence: Buttigieg was a junior in high school during the Columbine shooting, and last night he urged immediate action to reduce gun violence: “I was part of the first generation that saw routine school shootings. We have now produced the second school shooting generation in this country. We dare not allow there to be a third.”
- Manufacturing jobs: Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) highlighted the need to create manufacturing jobs in the approach to combating climate change: “We can start making things in the United States again…I want us to dominate the battery market, make those here in the United States and cut the workers in on the deal.”
- Racism: Warren lambasted Trump’s racism: “We live in a country now where the president is advancing environmental racism, economic racism, criminal justice racism, health care racism. The way we do better is to fight back and show something better.”
- Trump’s tariffs: O’Rourke criticized Trump’s trade-wars-by-tweet and harmful tariffs: “They constitute the largest tax increase on the American consumer, hitting the middle class and the working poor especially hard. And farmers in Iowa and across the country are bearing the brunt of the consequences.”
- Workers’ rights: Warren advocated for using America’s leverage in the global economy to push for better working conditions and rights with trading partners: “People want access to our markets…let’s make them raise their standards. Make them pay their workers more. Let their workers unionize. Raise their environmental standards.”
- Use of military force: Drawing on his experience as a veteran, Buttigieg stressed the importance of Congress’s role in authorizing military force: “If men and women in the military have the courage to go serve, members of Congress ought to have to summon the courage to vote on whether they ought to be there.”