MIAMI — A swath of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, with Kamala Harris leading the way, tore into a stunned Joe Biden with jabs at his nearly five decades in office and his record on race.
In what may well turn out to the biggest moment of the first two Democratic debates, the senator from California, 54, took the former vice president to task for opposing busing (designed to end racial segregation in schools) and declared that she had been a victim at age 6, saying “I was that little girl.”
The politeness that had largely pervaded the primary race for the right to challenge President Trump next year shattered late Thursday in Miami when Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Harris took the stage for the Democratic National Committee’s second-night debate.
Those four top contenders were joined by Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, California Rep. Eric Swalwell, self-help guru Marianne Williamson, and entrepreneur Andrew Yang. They completed the second group of 10 to face moderators from NBC News, MSNBC, and Telemundo in front of a national TV audience.