The 2020 democratic president ial candidates held their 10th debate this election cycle, hosted by cbs news from carolina. , south senators bernie, amy klobuchar, and elizabeth warren, plus pete buttigieg, joe biden, Michael Bloomberg and tom steyer took part in the debate. [cheers and applause] tonight, the battle for the tony tony democratic possession of the nation the 22 democraticti president ial nomination is online020. I am gayle king. Lets get started [applause] the time has come to turn the page and open up a new chapter in the american story. Thing. S win this lets transform America America decides. America deserves a president who is as resilient as her people. Change is our time to who makes the rules. One stage. This election is too important, and we cannot afford to get it wrong. There is no limit to what we can become analyst for years. Show up in november 2020 and when. Seven democratic candidates. Together, we have built a movement. We have a fantastically diverse and wonderful country. We choose hope we are going to unite together. And together, we are going to get it done. We will deliver democracy worthy of the name. We are here and we are strong. [applause] live from the Juilliard Center in charleston, South Carolina, this is the cbs news democratic debate. Here are the seven candidates for the president ial nomination. [applause] [cheers and applause] good evening and welcome. Residentialic primary here in South Carolina, the first in this house, is just four days away. Super tuesday is just a week away. This is the biggest primary day of the year, as voters in 14 states cast ballots, and many of them tell us they have not actually made up their minds. So this debate when you think about it tonight, may be the last best chance for the candidates to make their case to South Carolina and super tuesday voters. Cbs news is route to bring you this debate along with our cosponsors. They are the Democratic National committee. And the congressional institute. A Nonpartisan Organization committed to educating voters and training political leaders. And we are also partnering with twitter. Participateome can in the debate. Send us your questions for the candidates using the twitter demdebate. Here are the rules. When you are asked the question, you have one minute 15 seconds to answer, and 15 seconds for followup. Lets begin. Sen. Sanders that we have not had a National Unemployment rate this low for this long in 50 years. In South Carolina, the Unemployment Rate is even lower. How will you convince voters that a democratic socialist can do better than President Trump with the economy . Right. Are the economy is doing great for people that mr. Bloomberg and other billionaires. Years,last three billionaires in this country saw an 850 billion increase in their wealth. But you know what . For the ordinary americans, things are not so good. Last year, real wage increases for the average worker were less than 1 . Half of our people are living paycheck to paycheck. Have noon Americans Health insurance or are underinsured. 45 Million People are struggling with student debt. 500,000 people tonight are sleeping out on the street, including 30,000 veterans. That is not an economy that is working for the American People. That is an economy working for the 1 . We are going to create an economy for all, not just wealthy. [applause] mayor bloomberg. I will let you respond, to you think senator sanders economy would be better for america . I think donald trump thinks it would be better if he was president. I dont think so. Vladimir putin thinks donald trump should be president Vladimir Putin thinks senator sanders should be president of the United States and that is what he is helping him. Sen. Sanders let me tell mr. Putin, i am not a good friend of president xi jinping of china, i think president xi jinping is an authoritarian leader. Let me tell this to putin, who interfered in the 2016 election, trying to bring americans against americans. Hey, mr. Putin, if i am president of the United States, trust me, you will not interfere in any more american elections. [applause]. We know what russia wants, it is chaos. The way i see this is bernie is winning right now because the Democratic Party is a progressive party, and progressive ideas are popular ideas, even if there are a lot of people on this page who dont want to say so. [applause] bernie and i agree on a lot of things. But i think i would make a better president than bernie. The reason for that is that getting a Progressive Agenda enacted is going to be really hard. It is going to take someone who digs into the details to make it happen. Helpe and i both wanted to rein in wall street. In 2008, we both got our chance. But i dug in. Ive fought the big banks, i built the coalitions and i won. Bernie and i both want to see universal health care, but his plan does not explain how to get there, does not show how we are going to get enough allies into it, and it doesnt show enough about how we are going to pay for it. I dug in, i did the work, and then bernese team trust me for it. We need a president trashed me for it. We need a president who is going to do the hard work and get it done. Progressives have got one shot, and we need to spend it with a leader who will get something done. [applause] why would the russians wanted to be working on behalf of Bernie Sanders . Russians dont have a political party, they want chaos. Chaos is what is coming our way. If you think the last four years has been chaotic, divisive, exhausting, imagine spending the better part of 2020 with Bernie Sanders versus donald trump. Think about what that will be like for this country. Home, fromfolks at South Carolina to south bend, are trying to figure out what any of this means for us. Because it is right, that there is a progressive majority, an american majority that wants to see real change. Wants to see wages go up faster than the cost of health and but also, retirement, there is a majority of the American People who i think right now, just want to be able to turn on the tv, see their president and actually feel their Blood Pressure go down a little bit instead of up through the roof. Mr. Steyer. Bernie sanders analysis is right. The difference is i dont like his solutions. I dont believe the government takeover of a large part of the economy makes any sense for working people or for families. I think what we need to do is to present an alternative that includes a vibrant competitive private sector, but we all know unchecked capitalism has failed. The answer is not for the government to take over the private sector, the answer is for us to break the corporate struggle in our government and have the government work for the people again. Let me just finish, we need to have an alternative to donald trump. I am talking about doubling the minimum wage, cutting taxes by 10 for everybody who makes less than 250,000, in creating over 4. 5 million good paying union jobs. Donald trump thinks he is competent as a steward of the economy. We have to show we can create a growing and prosperous economy for american working people. Mr. Steyer, thank you. Vice President Biden . We talk about progressives, lets talk about being progressive. Nine people shot dead at Mother Emmanuel Church i white supremacist by a white supremacist. Bernie voted five times against the brady bill, and waited, waited a waiting period of 12 hours. I am not saying he is responsible for the 9 death s, but that killer would not have been able to get that weapon. In addition to that, being progressive, he thought barack obama, he said, we should primary barack obama. Someone should. That the president was weak. That our administration was not up to it. Folks, lets talk about progressive. Progressive is getting things done, and that is what we got done. [applause] senator sanders, your response. I ammentioned hearing my name mentioned a little bit tonight. [laughter] pete mentioned what the American People want, i will tell you what the American People want, and joe, what the American People want they dont want candidates running to billionaires for huge amounts of money. Hes got people [crosstalk] what the American People want, by the way, and a lot of the issues will be discussing tonight are issues i raised four years ago, raising the minimum ane to a living wage, 15 hour. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, and finally doing what every other major country on earth does, aaron Dean Health Care for all people as a human right through medicare for all, singlepayer health care. That is just not true. [applause] untrue about my campaign. The idea that most of my campaign is funded by in trust him 5 alone, just in charleston, over 2000 people have contributed to campaign. That means that dollars that have come to my Campaign Just from trust and is more than the dollars that have come from the 50 people you mentioned. Grassroots contributions are the lifeblood of my campaign. I should not miss the opportunity, if you are watching right now and you support my campaign, go to petefor america. Com and chip in. And if you are watching for now and you are a billionaire, i will raise your taxes. But if you would like to defeat donald trump, please go to peteforamerica. Com and donate the legal maximum. I would like to bring us to another topic. We are in South Carolina. With ast primary significant bloc voting population. In your numbers appear to be slipping with black voters. I wonder if you could respond as to why that is happening to you. The latest poll obama i saw was that my numbers, i was 15 points ahead. The latest poll. Nuven but senator sanders is within striking distance of you. You are within the margin of error in this state. Look, i have earned the vote, i have worked like the devil to earn the vote of the Africanamerican Community for years i have been coming here years and years, creating jobs here, making sure that the court port, we putthe money into this county. We created jobs for people. The people know me. My entire career has been wrapped up with dealing with civil rights and civil liberties. I dont expect anything, i plan to earn the vote. I am here to act. Folks, i intend to win South Carolina, and i will win the africanamerican vote here in South Carolina. Will you continue if you dont win South Carolina you, had said South Carolina will determine the outcome of this president ial race. If you dont win South Carolina, will you continue on . I will win South Carolina. Tobloomberg, i would like ask you about a question that impacts the black and brown community. You have apologized for stopandfrisk repeatedly. What exactly are you apologizing for . The let it get out of control. Control. It get out of when i realized that, i cut it by 95 . Have apologized and asked for forgiveness. I have met with black leaders to get an understanding of how i can better position myself, what i should have done and what we should do next time. We have been working very hard, we improved the School System for black and brown students in new york city. We increased the jobs that are available to them, we increased the house available to them. To put peoples fears and skepticism to rest, it continues to follow you . That is because it is in their interest to promote that, but if you talk to the people in new york city, i have over 100 black elected officials who have endorsed me, a lot of them in the audience tonight. Of theearned the respect people in new york city. I was the mayor of the largest most popular city in the united peoplefor 12 years, and will tell you, it is a lot better city today, safer for everybody. The School System is better, the budget is under control, we have gotten the things people need in new york city for all ethnicities mayor buttigieg. Mayor ted mayer you certainly had mayor to mayor, do you think new york citys implementation of stopandfrisk was racist . Yes it was. It was about profiling people based on their race. The mayor said they dissed the possibility stopped black people too often and minorities too little the us stopped white people too often and minorities little. I come here with humility because we have had a lot of issues especially when it comes to Racial Justice and policing in my community. And i come with humility because fact thatious of the there are seven people on this stage talking about Racial Justice. Have the experience, of, ford experience example, walking down the street or in a mall, and feeling eyes as dangerousing us without knowing the first thing about us because of the color of our skin. None of us have the experience black women have had that drives that Maternal Mortality gap that we are hord horrified by. Having your description of being in pain not believed. What we have to do is listen to those who do. I know that if i were black, my success would have been a lot harder to achieve. I know a lot of black people but if they were white, it would have been a lot easier for them. That is just a fact and we have to do something about it rather than just demagoguery about it. Moderator was the way that the mayor implemented stopandfrisk racist . Yes. I think what we need to do is set of just reviewing everything from the past is talk about where we will go forward. Martin luther king once said that we are all tied in a single garment of destiny, and what affects one of us directly affects all of us indirectly. When there is racism in the criminal Justice System, we need to fix it. Sentencingmeans reform like the first step back and extending that to the state with respect to step act. It means equal opportunity. If we dont pass the representative cliburns bill out of South Carolina, we will never get that single garment of destiny. We need to do something about childcare, about making sure we increase the minimum wage, and finally, voting. While we are sitting here debating, wisconsin has kicked hundreds of thousands of people off the voting rolls. Georgia kicked 100,000 off. As president , i will get Voting Rights to be a reality for moderator senator warren, i want to direct this question to you because mayor bloomberg has said he got into this race. Late because he doesnt believe any of you on stage can beat trump. You said mayor bloomberg is not the safest candidate, he is the riskiest. What did you mean . Candidate lets think of it this way. We are here in charleston and you know who will be here later this week . Donald trump. He will be here to raise money for his friend, senator lindsey lindseywho funded grahams campaign for reelection last time . It was mayor bloomberg. That is not the only rightwing senator mayor bloomberg has funded. 12 milliondumped into the Pennsylvania Senate ane to help reelect antichoice right wing republican senator. I just want to say, a woman challenger was terrific, she point. One single in 2012, he scooped in to try to defend another republican senator against a woman challenger. That was me. It didnt work, but he tried. [laughter] [applause] i dont care how much money mayor bloomberg has. Partyre of the democratic will never trust him. He has not earned their trust. Will. And the fact that he cannot earn the trust of the core of the demo credit of the Democratic Party means he is the riskiest candidate standing on senator, thank you. Mayor bloomberg, which elect to respond . Candidate i have been training for this job since i stepped on the pile that was still smoldering on 9 11. I know what to do. I can run a country. I have run a city that is bigger than most countries in the world. I am the one choice that makes sense. I have the experience, the resources and the record. Senatorsideshows the wants to bring up have nothing to do with that. When people hired me to run new york city three times in an overwhelmingly democratic progressive city, they elected me again and again. Sen. Warren i would like to respond. He called me out by name and referred to what i talk about as a sideshow. You know, this is personal for me. When i was 21 years old, i got my first job as a special ed teacher. I love that job. By the end of the first year, i was visibly pregnant. The principal wished me luck and give my job to someone else. Pregnancy discrimination, you bet. But i was 21 years old, i didnt have a union to protect me, i did not have federal law on my side. So i packed up my stuff and i went home. At least i didnt have a boss it, the to me, tilkill way mayor bloombergs alleged to have said to one of his pregnant employees. [crowd booing] people want a chance to hear the women who mr. Bloomberg for the record, if she was a teacher in new york city, she wouldve never had that problem. We treated our teachers the right way and our unions will tell you exactly that. Let us have come the women have an opportunity to speak. The bloomberg corporations and mayor bloomberg himself have been accused of discrimination. Nondisclosure by so they cannot speak. If he says