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Have you ever just sat there and watched a whole 2020 Democratic debate while taking notes and paying rapt attention? Well, I have and I did it for one reason: I want you, lovely readers, to vote in the upcoming primary election.
For Chicagoans, that means March 17 is the big day but you can start early voting as soon as March 2 (make sure you’re registered to vote and know where your polling place is).
This blog will serve as your guide on who to vote for based on the extensive notes I took during the last Democratic debate (which took place on February 25) before Super Tuesday. What is Super Tuesday? Keep reading to find out about that and more political terms that are thrown around (yet nobody bothers to explain for some reason).
Shortcuts to each candidate below:
2020 Democratic Candidates
Joe Biden
Photo by David Lienemann
Former Vice President Biden was, as the name implies, Former President Obama’s second-in-command. Before that, he was a member of the United States Senate representing Delaware. He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania and is 77 years old (born in 1942).
As of now, he has 48 delegates (another term I will explain later) in the 2020 primaries, placing him in second place. Below are some of the policies he supports and his beliefs and practices based on his last debate performance.
Stance on Financial Affairs
Received funding from billionaires for his campaign
Stance on Foreign Affairs
Believes in imposing sanctions against Russia for election interference
Stance on Gun Control
Supports the Brady Bill
Wants to go against gun manufactures
Stance on Health and Wellness
Wants to invest in finding cures for obesity, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s
Believes in increasing budget for the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Stance on Minority Rights
Against Redlining, institutionalized racism, and gentrification
Wrote the 1994 Crime Bill that put many Blacks and Latinos in jail
Stance on War
Voted for War in Iraq in 2002
Michael Bloomberg
Photo from Bloomberg Philanthropies
Update: Former Mayor Bloomberg has officially dropped out of the 2020 presidential race.
Former Mayor Bloomberg was the former mayor of New York City, serving for three terms until 2013. In 1981 he founded his own software company, Bloomberg L.P. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1942 making him 78 years old.
He currently has no delegates, tying him for sixth place in the 2020 primaries. Below are some of the beliefs and practices he spoke about during the last debate.
Stance on Education
Believes the only way to solve poverty is through education
Wants to raise teacher salaries
Stance on Financial Affairs
Wants to focus on the U.S. debt
He funded many Republicans including Lindsey Graham
Has not shown his taxes
Stance on Foreign Affairs
Wants to cut back on troops in the Middle East
Against moving the U.S. Embassy back to Tel Aviv in Israel
Believes in splitting land between Palestine and Israel
Believes in negotiating with foreign powers like the President of China, Xi Jinping
Stance on Gun Control
Funded Moms Demand Action for gun control
Stance on Health and Wellness
Believes we have an obesity problem
Stance on Marijuana
Against legalizing marijuana
Will not take away the legalization of marijuana from states that have legalized it
Wants to remove marijuana charges from records
Stance on Minority Rights
Implemented “stop-and-frisk” while he was mayor which was a police tactic that mostly targeted young Black and Latino men
Has a history of discriminating against women at his company
Pete Buttigieg
Photo by Gage Skidmore
Update: Former Mayor Pete has officially dropped out of the 2020 presidential race.
Former Mayor Pete was the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana (from 2012 to 2020) where he was born and raised. At 38 years old (born in 1982) he is the youngest 2020 Democratic candidate and he is the first presidential candidate to be openly gay.
He has, as of now, 26 delegates in the 2020 primaries putting him in third place. Here are some of the policies he is for and against as well as his beliefs which he shared during the last debate:
Stance on Education
Supports public educators
Wants to invest in education
Wants an adequate mental health system for children
Does not propose student loan debt cancellation
Stance on Financial Affairs
Wants the minimum wage to increase
Wants to raise taxes for billionaires
Supports grassroots contributions
Received funding from billionaires for his campaign
Stance on Foreign Affairs
Against invading countries and stands with the people of Idlib
Stance on Gun Control
Believes in common-sense gun laws
Against having assault weapons sold near schools, churches, or neighborhoods
Stance on Health and Wellness
Against eliminating private insurance companies
Does not believe in free universal healthcare
Stance on Voting Rights
Wants a 21st-century voting rights act to help those who have been systemically suppressed
Stance on War
Believes in having more intelligence capabilities and specialists rather than deploying more troops
Amy Klobuchar
Photo from United States Senate
Update: Senator Klobuchar has officially dropped out of the 2020 presidential race.
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar represents the state of Minnesota and is the first woman to do so. She was also born and raised in Plymouth, Minnesota and is 59 years old (born in 1960). Before becoming a senator, she was the head lawyer of the largest prosecutor firm in Minnesota.
She is in fifth place for the 2020 primaries with 7 delegates. Below are some of the beliefs and policies she supported during the last debate.
Stance on Education
Believes in incentivizing college students to go into medicine
Wants to make 1-year and 2-year degrees free
Stance on Financial Affairs
Wants to increase the minimum wage
Stance on Foreign Affairs
Wants to work better with U.S. allies
Supports lifting the embargo on Cuba and starting to do business with Cuba
Supports the Iran nuclear agreement
Stance on Gun Control
Supports the assault weapon ban and universal background checks
Stance on Health and Wellness
Does not believe in free universal healthcare
Wants to make healthcare more affordable by providing more options, paying for long-term care, and taking on big pharmaceutical companies
Wants to extend critical access hospitals in rural areas
Believes in the Comprehensive Immigration Reform to allow foreign Doctors to stay and serve in rural areas
Believes in investing in CDC
Stance on Marijuana
Supports legalizing marijuana
Wants to focus on rehabilitation for opioid users with drug courts and Clemency Boards
Stance on Minority Rights
Wants to invest in impoverished communities
Wants to help Section 8 applicants by creating incentives
Stance on Prison System
Believes in the Sentencing Reform Act and the First Step Act
Wants a “Second Step Act” to extend to the states
Stance on Voting Rights
Wants to help those who were purged from voter rolls
Bernie Sanders
Photo by Gage Skidmore
Senator Sanders is a third-term U.S. Senator from Vermont. In the past, he was Mayor of Burlington, Vermont where he now lives. He was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1941 making him the oldest 2020 Democratic candidate at 78 years old.
He has the most delegates in the 2020 primaries, currently with 56, and takes first place. Here are some of the policies he is for and against as well as his beliefs which he shared during the last debate:
Stance on Education
Believes in tuition-free public college with a Wallstreet speculation tax
Wants to triple-fund low-income Title 1 Schools
Against “zip code education”
Against teachers earning less than $60,000 a year
Believes in debt forgiveness for doctors, nurses, and dentists practicing in underserved areas
Stance on Financial Affairs
Wants to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour
Supports grassroots movements
Against giving tax-breaks to billionaires
Stance on Foreign Affairs
Against authoritarianism
Believes in protecting the security of Israel and supporting Palestine
Would consider moving U.S. Embassy back to Tel Aviv
Stance on Gun Control
Wants to expand on universal background checks and end “gun show loopholes”
Voted against Brady Bill in 1993 and voted for gun industry immunity in 2003 and 2005
Stance on Health and Wellness
Believes in free universal healthcare by having employers pay a 7.5% payroll tax
Proposed Medicare for all/single-payer system that drug and insurance companies cannot profit from
Against having thousands of insurance plans
Believes in international cooperation when dealing with infectious diseases
Wants to expand on the World Health Organization and fund the CDC
Believes in free high-quality childcare for every family
Stance on Marijuana
Wants to legalize marijuana and release anyone who has been arrested for possession
Wants to change the Control Substance Act to not place marijuana and heroin in the same category
Wants to help Blacks and Latinos open businesses that distribute marijuana
Elizabeth Warren
Photo from United States Senate
Update: Senator Warren has officially dropped out of the 2020 presidential race.
Senator Warren has served as the U.S. Senator of Massachusetts since 2013. She was a former law school professor who taught across the country. She was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1949 and she is 70 years old.
She is currently fourth in the 2020 Democratic primaries with 8 delegates. The beliefs and policies she spoke about during the last debate are listed below:
Stance on Education
Against high-stakes testing
Wants to put $800 billion federal dollars into public schools
Wants to invest in historically Black colleges
Wants to cancel student loan debt
Stance on Financial Affairs
Wants to tackle Wallstreet
Against raising taxes for the middle class
Wants a .2¢ wealth tax on the top 1% to pay for childcare,
Stance on Foreign Affairs
Believes we need to let Israel and Palestine negotiate and it’s not for the U.S. to decide
Stance on Health and Wellness
Wants Medicare for all
Stance on Minority Rights
Wants to build housing plans to address Redlining
Stance on Voting Rights
Wants majority vote over the filibuster which rejects proposals on guns, oil, and immigration
Stance on War
Wants to bring home combat troops from the Middle East
Believes we need to provide humanitarian relief and work with allies without military intervention
And there you have it: a break-down of all that was shared during the 2020 Democratic debate (excluding the thoughts and opinions of Tulsi Gabbard who was not present and Tom Steyer who recently dropped out). If you stayed with me so far then get ready for a second break-down, this time on common political terms.
Primary Election Terms Explained
“Super Tuesday” is a very important day because a lot of states have their primary elections on that day and, for the candidates, this means that most delegates are up for grabs.
Delegates are party representatives who cast the vote for their states chosen candidate (which is decided during the primary elections.) Each state has a specific amount of delegates with California having the most followed by Texas and New York.
While most states have primaries that allow registered voters to fill out ballots to vote, states like Iowa have caucuses. During a caucus, registered Democratic voters meet to discuss and select a candidate.
The primaries will wrap up in June of this year and in July a Democratic Convention will take place to determine who amongst the candidates will win the nomination.
Hopefully, all this makes sense and if not watch the video below for a quick summary of how primaries work. Lastly, go out and vote. It doesn’t matter who you vote for and why because, for me, it is enough to know that you have voted.
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