Winners and Losers of the first Democratic primary debate, night one

Last night was the first Democratic Primary debate of the 2020 election! As a reminder, most of the heavy hitters (Biden, Harris, Buttigieg, and Sanders) are up today. But, we still had strong second tier candidates last night with Cory Booker, Julian Castro and Amy Klobuchar. We also had Elizabeth Warren, who is steadily climbing into the first tier. Here are PoliticsToday’s winners, losers, and candidates to look out for.

WINNERS- Castro got lucky that immigration was the big topic yesterday. It is where he shone above the other candidates, but, surprisingly, he did really good with the economy and gun control rights. We could see him rise in the upcoming weeks. Booker also had a strong showing, but he didn’t necessarily expand on his policies last night, except maybe on healthcare.

LOOK OUT FOR- Ryan and Delaney made really good pitches for a general election, even for centrist Republicans. Not sure if it is appropriate for primary, but both have a chance, if they swing at it, at getting tired Rust Belt, Trump voting Democrats to vote in primaries. DeBlasio needed this stage, and he will appeal to the people that got bored by Warren, but he is super-progressive[even more than Tulsi, Warren and Inslee combined]. Let’s say it’s a not brilliant, but eventful start for him. Let’s see if he rises.

LOSERS- Warren and Inslee (even though Inslee didn’t have much to say and that’s the problem]). It is clear that Warren’s main strength is the economy, which might not work out well for her considering how good that is going. She tries to say that the 1% are the ones that are taking all the wealth, but it is not sure that the message resonates with urban voters. She also didn’t say a word in immigration, and completely faded out in the second hour. Inslee, on the other hand, failed to produce the zingers that he could have had with climate change, and he didn’t differentiate himself on the other issues.