Night two of the Democratic debate was more fractious than night one, leaving the first night’s candidates as one winner, just because they escaped this shoutfest. But it still yielded a clear winner from the people on stage Thursday night, and that winner was Sen. Kamala Harris.
Harris jumped out to a strong start with her first answer, turning the question of whether Democrats should have a responsibility to explain how they’ll pay for priorities like health care and free college back on moderator Savannah Guthrie: “Where was that question when the Republicans and Donald Trump passed a tax bill that benefits the top 1% and the biggest corporations in this country?”
Harris moved from that strength to another, breaking through a shoutfest by saying “America does not want to witness a food fight, they want to know how we’re going to put food on their tables.” After cheers, she continued to a strong critique of Donald Trump’s “great economy” that’s benefiting people who own stocks, not people working two or three jobs. At this point, she was looking like a likely winner of the debate.
But it was on race that Harris cemented her win, insisting on her right as the only black person on the stage to speak to the issue, and then going straight for former Vice President Joe Biden.
Biden did not have a strong debate and that moment did not seem to help his composure, though he clearly worked to regather himself in the ensuing questions. But Harris … damn. That was a moment—and though Harris had obviously prepared those comments, she delivered them without the rehearsed quality that marred Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s answer on the recent killing by a police officer in his city. Instead, there was an emotional, authentic punch to Harris’ words.
At that point, she had only to survive the rest of the debate to be a head and shoulders winner. She more than did that, continuing a strong performance and one of the high points of the closing remarks. Doubtless some contrarian will claim another winner for the debate, but … nope. There’s really only one answer here.