There will be a substantially reshaped cast in Nevada’s Democratic debate Wednesday night, with two people who were onstage in Iowa and New Hampshire missing and one new entrant. It’s that new entrant, Michael Bloomberg, who is expected to make the most news—for good or ill—in this debate, despite not even competing in Nevada.
Bloomberg will join Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and former Vice President Joe Biden. Tom Steyer fell short of eligibility, and Andrew Yang dropped out after the New Hampshire primary.
This debate will be most voters’ first time seeing Bloomberg outside of his own massive advertising campaign, and will be the other candidates’ first chance either to ding the “electability” glow Bloomberg has spent so much to create or to seriously challenge him on policy and his history of racist statements. Several of the candidates have criticized Bloomberg sharply, but now they’ll get to challenge him to his face. Warren in particular has signaled that she’s ready to take on Bloomberg—if the debate moderators let her speak, anyway. But Sanders has also had strong words about Bloomberg’s past policies and current money-fueled campaign.
Sanders, as the new front-runner, may also face some pressure. He’ll likely get questions about his recent announcement that he won’t be releasing any more medical records, as he pledged to do after his heart attack last fall. With the debate in Las Vegas, he may also get questions about either the Culinary Union’s criticism of his Medicare for All plan or his supporters’ attacks on union officials in response.
Buttigieg arrives in Nevada as the delegate leader. But his strong Iowa and New Hampshire performances aren’t, so far, translating to a major surge elsewhere, and it’s not clear where he goes from here. He needs to make a splash in Nevada to show that his candidacy might succeed outside of small white states.
Warren is fighting media erasure of her campaign, with debate host NBC News literally leaving her out of a poll this week, and she faces the constant tightrope walk of the woman candidate who’ll be punished more than a man would be for interrupting to seek debate time or for sharp attacks on competitors. She seems ready to go after Bloomberg, but will that extend to other candidates?
Klobuchar’s New Hampshire debate performance was actually the exception to the general rule that women don’t get to be aggressive. She tore into Buttigieg with glee, and it worked for her, in concert with a media narrative that her fifth-place Iowa finish was a show of strength. Can she keep that up? Or will she debut a new strategy?
The debate starts at 9 PM ET and will last for two hours. It’s moderated by NBC News’ Lester Holt, Chuck Todd (traditionally a disaster), and Hallie Jackson, along with Telemundo’s Vanessa Hauc and The Nevada Independent's Jon Ralston. You can watch on NBC, MSNBC, and Universo, or livestream on NBC News, MSNBC, Telemundo, and The Nevada Independent.