Democratic debate: Protesters interrupt Joe Biden during his closing segment
10 presidential hopefuls took to the stage in Houston
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The leading 10 candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination took to the debating stage, bringing heavyweights in the field Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders all on to the same stage for the first time.
The presidential hopefuls tackled healthcare, gun control, education and more, with several heated clashes between the rivals.
In the last section of the debate, former Vice President Biden was interrupted when he went to answer a question about his “most significant professional setback”.
Although it was unclear what the protest was about, people in the hall have said the demonstrators chanted: “We are DACA recipients. Our lives are at risk.”
Earlier in the debate Mr Biden had been questioned about deportations under the Barack Obama administration, a question which he deftly dodged.
He came under particular fire from Julian Castro, both over who could claim the mantle of being the true successor to Barack Obama and, controversially, over Mr Biden's memory.
Beto O'Rourke focused on gun violence and said he would institute a mandatory buyback scheme for assault rifles, saying: "Hell yes, we are going to take your AR-15s."
Tonight’s candidates were: Mr Biden, Ms Warren, Mr Sanders Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, and Andrew Yang.
Catch-up on events as they happened below.
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The mood in the press area is steadily building up. No great surprises that people want to see how Biden does under this most intense spotlight, and against the potential onslaught from Elizabeth Warren.
One thing that struck me as fascinating, was a new poll that shows Warren's numbers have been building up in Texas, as well as nationally. Until this point, the general thinking was that Warren might be too progressive for Texas, and that only Biden - or maybe Beto O'Rourke - could really put the state in play in 2020
But the new poll shows Warren's support is growing here too, and that O'Rourke has slipped to third place in his home state. Via the Texas Tribune.
Sharp contrast talking to people here in Houston about O'Rourke, as compared to residents of El Paso
O'Rourke's from El Paso, was the congressman there, and in the aftermath of the Walmart shooting, he spent a lot of time there, not just offering condolences but calling out Trump for his racist language. To people there, he could do not wrong. Folks in Houston appear a lot more skeptical about his ability to push through in the presidential race. They could see him in the Senate, but not the White House.
Worth watching out for tonight is what Andrew Yang does on that stage.
He has made a point of mentioning that his big goal is to get himself next to Joe Biden so folks at home will ask "Who's that Asian guy next to Joe Biden", and his campaign has been teasing a special surprise.
The #YansDebateSurprise is trending on Twitter, and has led to quite a bit of speculation. Will he give everyone in the audience $1,000? Will he crowd surf? Is he going to do magic tricks? Who knows!
But, it's quite entertaining to ponder.
A rather harsh assessment of Ms Warren's latest bit of livestreaming:
Elizabeth Warren's campaign political director forgot her debate snacks tonight:
We are just moments away from the start of the debates -- buckle up everyone!
Here is a brief history of the beef between Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden -- going back 14 years!
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