9 things we learned during the second Democratic debate for the 2020 presidential election

MIAMI, Fla. — Ten more Democratic presidential candidates took the stage Thursday in the second night of the opening round of 2020 campaign debates in Miami.

In case you missed it, or are just looking for a recap, Channel 9 political reporter Christopher Heath broke down nine things we learned from the second debate.

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The B's – Biden, Bernie and Buttigieg: Three of the leading Democratic candidates took center stage in Miami on Thursday. While each seems to have staked out their own lane in the race, none is above 50% in any poll, meaning they had to try and take something from another candidate to break out, and it's doubtful anyone leaves Miami with a significantly different path forward, at least for the time being. But Biden was the target all night and from race issues to Iraq, the other nine candidates took turns taking shots.

The K's: Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand arrived in Miami with a track record of hard-hitting questions in Senate hearings, and on Thursday night, they did not hold back. Each flexed their skills in the debate trying to break out of the single digits in polls. Harris had perhaps the best two moments of the night: one going after Biden on busing and the other breaking up fights between the other candidates, saying "people don't want to see a food fight, they want to know what we're going to do to help put food on the table."

"We have to restore the backbone of America," says @JoeBiden #DemDebate #cfldecides #wftv
— Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) June 28, 2019

Harris and Buttigieg: Google trends put out a Tweet saying that Harris was "actually the top trending topic in search on all of Google in the US right now." Data after the debate from Google showed her leading searches against Biden in 42 states and ahead of Sanders, in terms of searches in all 50 states. Buttigieg also saw a noticeable increase in activity on Google, with the mayor of South Bend outpacing Harris in 10 states, all in the Midwest.

.@KamalaHarris and @JoeBiden went back and forth over the history of his civil rights agenda #DemDebate #wftv
— Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) June 28, 2019

Moderate men: Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, both from Colorado, tried to establish a moderate lane, pushing back on some of the positions taken by Sanders and Harris, and even Warren from Wednesday night.

First office: Marianne Williamson and Andrew Yang came into the night needing to meet voters, for the first time. Neither has ever held office before and were looking to break out from the pack as the "outsider" of the race. Williamson didn't get her first question until 25 minutes in, and Yang got only slightly more attention.

Healthcare for illegal immigrants: On this issue, the set of 10 Democrats was united. It is also the topic that drew the first tweet from President Trump, who is at the G20 in Japan. Both Buttigieg and Biden said that these immigrants do in fact pay taxes in the form of property taxes and sales taxes. Each argued that this population needs care, and it will be easier and less costly to pay on the front end, not the back end.

Everyone raises their hand when asked if their health care plan would cover undocumented immigrants #demdebate #cfldecides #wftv
— Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) June 28, 2019

All Democrats just raised their hands for giving millions of illegal aliens unlimited healthcare. How about taking care of American Citizens first!? That’s the end of that race!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2019

Orlando: On Wednesday night, the ten candidates on the stage discussed gun control, many mentioning Parkland. Not a single one mentioned Orlando, but that changed on Thursday night. Eric Swalwell, on the topic of guns was the first candidate on either night to reference the Pulse nightclub shooting. Members of the Orange County delegation had been critical of the candidates on Wednesday for focusing on the shooting at Parkland, while ignoring Orlando.

.@ericswalwell mentions Orlando, along with Parkland, on gun rights.
On night 1, there was Parkland, but no mention of the 49 lives lost in Orlando #DemDebate
— Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) June 28, 2019

Bill de Blasio said what?: He wasn't on the stage Thursday night, but New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio grabbed headlines in Miami, and for all the wrong reasons. While at the airport, supporting striking workers, de Blasio shouted, "Hasta la victoria siempre" a quote from Che Guevara. The phrase drew a swift rebuke from Florida Democrats and Republicans, with Democratic Florida Senator Annette Taddeo taking to Twitter, writing, "This is completely unacceptable! How can anyone wanting to be the leader of the free world quote a murderous guerrilla in Miami no less! A community filled with his victims! #DeleteYourCampaign." Later in the day, de Blasio took to Twitter himself, apologizing for using the phrase, saying he did not know it was associated with Che Guevara.

Who can beat Trump?: Democrats want to defeat Donald Trump. This is not new. Republicans wanted someone who could defeat Obama. It's called politics. The conventional wisdom has been that Democratic voters will go to whoever they see as the best able to win in 2020. Up until now, that has been Biden. The question is, is he still?

On that note, the first set of debates is in the books. The candidates will not share the stage again until the end of July. Watch for movement, or lack thereof in the wake of Wednesday and Thursday. Did any candidate break out? Did any candidate stumble? Are voters paying attention? Will the race be reshaped come Friday morning?

my colleague @KenTyndallWFTV was at a watch party tonight in Orlando. People told him they want to know about affordable housing, healthcare and jobs #DemDebate #cfldecides #wftv
— Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) June 28, 2019