Sen. Bernie Sanders will square off against former vice president Joe Biden during the second night of the opening Democratic presidential primary debates, Thursday. But the two frontrunners for the nomination will be sharing the stage in Miami with eight other candidates who are all jockeying well below Sanders and Biden in the polls.
While Biden is expected to play defense as the other nine candidates train him in their sights, Sanders has said he is going to stick with his well-rehearsed talking points.
“My message tomorrow night is going to be pretty simple,” Sanders said in a video released by his campaign on Wednesday. “We’re going to create an economy and a political system that works for all of us, not just the 1%.”
While the latest national polls clearly show Biden holding a comfortable lead over his closest rival in Sanders, after those two it becomes a case of the best of the rest, with many needing to capitalize on the media attention tonight if they want to qualify for the next presidential debate.
The latest Morning Consult/Politico poll has Biden at 38%, followed by Sanders at 19% and Elizabeth Warren at 13%.
Warren, having taken the stage Wednesday night, was separated from the two clear frontrunners who Thursday will be facing off against candidates who are polling no higher than South Bend Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg’s 7%.
In addition to Buttigieg, tonight’s crop of candidates includes four members of Congress — Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Michael Bennet of Colorado, and Rep. Eric Swalell of California — but also self-help author Marianne Williamson, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, lawyer and tech-entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
Here is a look at tonight’s eight challengers to Sanders and Biden:
Pete Buttigieg (polling at 7%)
Not much differentiates the 37-year-old mayor from South Bend, Indiana, from the pack except for personal story. Buttigieg is gay, married, a Christian, a veteran who served in Afghanistan in 2014, and since 2012 he has been the mayor of South Bend.
On immigration, Buttigieg has said he supports a path to citizenship for people who entered the United States as minors under the so-called Dream Act.
When it comes to gun control, last month Buttigieg unveiled a number of proposals, including universal background checks and a ban on military-style assault weapons.
Buttigieg also has said he believes climate change is a threat to national security.
Kamala Harris (polling at 6%)
The Democratic senator from California drew a large crowd when she announced her candidacy for president back in January. Since then, she has struggled to poll with the top tier of candidates.
Harris was the San Francisco district attorney from 2004 to 2011 before becoming the attorney general.
During her stint as California’s top law enforcement officer, she supported the death penalty and opposed legislation that would have required her office to investigate police shootings. Harris has been criticized by Democrats and progressives for both decisions.
In March, Harris released a plan to reform how teachers are paid in the U.S. The proposal would give teachers a $13,500 salary increase and cost the government $315 billion over 10 years.
Harris is proposing banning the importation of military-style assault weapons, and has hinted at wanting to repeal a law that doesn’t allow victims of gun-violence to sue the firearm manufacturer responsible for injuries.
Andrew Yang (polling at 2%)
Yang is a lawyer-turned tech entrepreneur. He recently started a nonprofit to revitalize Rust Belt cities in Pennsylvania and Ohio by encouraging businesses to move to those areas.
Yang has a policy platform built on giving every adult in the U.S. a universal income of $1,000 a month and making sure the country is ready for a wave of automation in most economic sectors.
Interestingly, he is also opposed to uninformed male circumcision. Yang has said that if he is elected president, he would support initiatives to inform parents they don’t need to get their infants circumcised for health reasons.
Michael Bennet (polling at 1%)
Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado is considered a moderate in the Democratic field.
Bennet has served as the managing director for an investment company, the chief of staff to former Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper — a fellow presidential candidate — and superintendent of Denver Public Schools.
He is a primary sponsor of the American Family Act, which would provide tax cuts for middle class families to help offset the cost of raising children in America.
Bennet does not support a Medicare for All proposal, but instead believes there should be steps taken to broaden health care coverage. This could include a public health care option similar to Medicare that would work in tandem with private health insurance options under the Affordable Care Act.
He also has supported deregulating banks and financial institutions. The measure Bennet favored would have undone parts of the Dodd-Frank Act to allow big banks to take on more risk and operate with less regulatory oversight.
Kirsten Gillibrand (polling at 1%)
The Democratic senator from New York was born in Albany, New York, and attended Dartmouth College for her undergraduate years.
Gllibrand, who worked for Hilary Clinton’s Senate campaign in 2000 before becoming a U.S. representative in 2007, has become best known for her policy proposals to protect victims of sexual assault.
On gun control, Gillibrand has a mixed history. While she was a House member, she was an advocate for gun rights and had an ‘A’ rating from the National Rifle Association.
However, since Gillibrand entered the Senate in 2009, she has supported strengthening gun control laws.
When it comes to reproductive rights, Gillibrand has said that if she becomes president she would only nominate judges who would uphold the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade.
Gillibrand, in spite of her vocal support for victims of sexual assault, the New York Times reported last month that one of Gillibrand’s staffers resigned over the handling of a sexual harassment complaint against one of the senator’s closest advisers.
John Hickenlooper (polling at 1%)
The former Colorado governor is probably best known for first opposing marijuana legalization before embracing it and the marijuana industry. Since he has announced his decision to run for president, he is one of the few candidates to visit Vermont.
Hickenlooper spoke at the Flynn Center in Burlington in March where he outlined most of his work as governor of Colorado. He has said he agrees with Bernie Sanders about income inequality in the U.S. but disagrees with the Vermont senator about the solution to the problem.
Eric Swalwell (polling at 0%)
The U.S. representative for California sits on the House Intelligence Committee — with Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt. — and is chair of the Intelligence Modernization and Readiness Subcommittee.
Most of Swalwell’s platform and policy ideas are standard fare among this year’s candidates.
One way he is different from the crowd is that he helped to introduce press freedom legislation this year. The Journalist Protection Act would make it a federal crime for certain attacks on those who work in the media.
Marianne Williamson (polling at 0%)
The bestselling self-help author of 13 books has never held public office before, but in 2014 she did run as an independent in California for a U.S. House seat.
That time around she placed fourth out of 16 candidates, with 13.2% of the vote.
Williamson has appeared many times on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” and has been called “Oprah’s spiritual adviser,” according to Vox.
Not much is known about her policy proposals, but she has said she is in favor of monetary reparations for African Americans and that she supports for path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who do not have a serious criminal history.
The two-hour Democratic presidential debate can be viewed on NBC and MSNBC at 9 p.m.
