Democrats who watched debate pick favorites

Jun. 28--The first round of the Democratic debates featured a crowded stage Wednesday night, when 10 out of 24 candidates for president of the U.S. fought for the spotlight.

The presidential prospects weighed in on issues that could sway voter direction. The topics discussed included health care, transgender rights, immigration, the economy and more.

Locals Democrats and Daily Press readers and Facebook followers were asked to weigh in on the debate, giving their take on who, among the slate Wednesday night, emerged as contenders.

The candidates were asked about the state of health care and whether private insurance should be abolished. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio were both in favor of eliminating it, with Warren condemning the current state of the insurance industry. Meanwhile, former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney showed support for keeping private insurance, while also expanding the option of free health care to all.

Carden Crow, founder and president of Oklahomans for Equality Chapter: TahlEquality, said he likes the fact that Warren and de Blasio favored doing away with private health insurance.

"We've seen it work for other countries," said Crow. "I'm not saying it will work that well for a country who's not been practicing that policy for a while, but I think it's the humane place to start. I think we're going there, anyway. Somebody needs to start that, and I would look for a candidate who is willing to go that far with it."

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar does not favor eliminating private insurance. She also said during the debate she wanted to tackle the pharmaceutical industry issues to bring down drug costs.

Pam Iron, Cherokee County Democrats chair, said she liked Klobuchar's approach.

"Amy was very pragmatic and strong in her different approaches to Medicare and health insurance in general, and how she would put that together," said Iron. "I like that plan, that you use the universal health care model, but you can still incorporate private insurance and the Medicare concept."

It's not uncommon for candidates to clash while on the debate stage, and O'Rourke and former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro tangled with one another on immigration policy. Castro said the U.S. should repeal Section 1325 of the Immigration and National Act, which would decriminalize undocumented immigrants crossing the border, and criticized O'Rourke for not favoring the proposal.

O'Rourke said he would rather see a "comprehensive rewrite of our immigration laws," so asylum seekers would not be separated from their families. Castro responded that he was not referring to only asylum seekers, but everyone who wants to enter the U.S.

Iron said she wasn't sure about decriminalizing the immigration section, but said she thinks people who are seeking asylum should be given "a pathway for citizenship."

"Everyone who's not a criminal should have a pathway to citizenship," said Iron. "It's obvious that Anglo people -- you never hear them having problems getting a pathway to citizenship, but you hear about Mexican people or brown people -- it takes 10 to 12 years as a pathway to citizenship. It's kind of interesting the differences that happen, but I think we should sort out the criminals and the people who are really seeking asylum, we should embrace and we should provide a pathway to citizenship."

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker took a stance on transgender issues by addressing high murder rates among African-American transgender people, pointing out the percentage of LGBTQ students who don't attend school out of fear, and calling for the country to keep the rights of LGBTQ Americans more at the forefront.

Crow said he's a big fan of Pete Buttigeig, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, but he hopes to see Booker continue on the election path and qualify for future debates after his "passionate plea for trans women of color."

"A lot of things are said about our [LGBT] community, but they're always said in a very, kind of generic way, like the LGBTQ community, and they'll touch on those issues," said Crow. "What stood out to me is he specifically commented on transgender people of color, and I think that was a big deal. You just don't hear transgender issues brought up individualized in that way."

Participants who responded to a Daily Press Facebook post asking for opinions on the debate varied in their analysis. Most didn't even discuss the debate, but promoted President Trump's re-election bid or quarreled with other followers.

Of those who actually discussed the debate, the majority said Warren, Castro, and Booker showed the most promise.

"I thought Warren, Castro, and Booker stood out," Pam Caldwell responded. "Definitely was not disappointed and felt like any one of the candidates on stage last night could show our POTUS how to act and what needed to be done."

The candidates are sure to address a litany of issues while on the campaign trail, but for many, some issue are more important than others. Billie Walker wrote the candidate with the most concern for planet Earth will get her vote: "Whoever is all about all about climate control. None of the other issues are going to matter if we don't have a planet we can live on."

Iron said her top three priorities she would like to see the next president address are health care, the climate and foreign diplomacy.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has long campaigned on changing the paradigm of America's government by consolidating big corporations and making a structural change to benefit low-income and middle-class citizens. The candidates Wednesday night also harped on this point.

Brent Been said Warren did more so than anyone else, and said he's for her. He also said trickle-down economics have not been working and that the GOP should "believe strongly in an honest market with regulation."

"Sen. Warren has said that we should go back and reinvent the wheel of taxing those who have already made it in order for everyone else to have the opportunity to climb the ladder," Been wrote. "SWarren believes in the free market, as she knows that it is competition not monopolistic cut-throat business practices that squeeze our everyone else. Warren believes in a regulated free market, which is of the utmost importance when you consider that at one time banks, who were not held to accountability, engages in high risk speculation with a catastrophic result by October of 1929, and again in 2008."

For the most part, it appears it's still too early to point out a frontrunner.

There was also limited confrontation among the 10 candidates, but that could change quickly by the next debate. Voters are likely to offer a similar attentiveness, as one reader, Moma Due, who commented that she'll wait before throwing her support one way or the other.

"I am waiting for them to thin out the playing field, then I will be watching avidly for I have my chocolate, popcorn, and soda all prepared when they start turning on each other like rabid wolves," she said.

Many on the Facebook post said it wouldn't make much difference what Democratic candidates said, as they would be casting their ballots for Trump. Others -- even some who identified primarily as Democrats -- said they weren't impressed by the positions candidates took.

That was the case for Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman David McLain, who viewed the debate as a victory for Trump.

"The Democrat candidates spent Wednesday night arguing over their plans to hike taxes on working families, aid and abet illegal immigrants entering our country, provide government-sponsored late-term abortions, and eliminate Americans' right to choose their private health care providers. Much of the night was taken up by technical difficulties by MSNBC and pandering from the candidates to fringe groups," said McLain. "Defending a 70 percent tax rate is bad in any language. The clear winner of this debate was none other than President Donald Trump, and Oklahomans will be proud to re-elect our president to a second term of creating jobs, securing our border, and championing conservative values."

What's next

A followup story on the second debate will appear in the Tuesday, July 2 edition of the Daily Press.

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