Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris delivered a strong performance in Thursday night’s debate, as she attacked front-runner Joe Biden for his stance decades ago on busing and called for order at one point when candidates were yelling over one another.
Pundits and regular viewers were left praising how the California senator commanded the stage, with some even saying she came out on top. Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, now a political analyst, tweeted: “She won. Period.”
Harris went after Biden for opposing busing in the 1970s, noting her personal link to the matter since at the time she was “a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools.” The former vice president responded that he “did not oppose busing in America,” but rather busing “ordered by the Department of Education.” Harris fired back that the federal government needed to step in because states were failing to integrate public schools.
In the so-called spin room after the debate, Harris continued to hit Biden on this part of his long legislative record: “Those moments are the moments then, when the federal government needs to step up and act. National leaders should call on and want the government to act. So I disagree with Vice President Biden.”
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At another point in the debate, several candidates were talking loudly over each other, and Harris managed to end it with this one-liner that drew applause: “Hey, guys, you know what? America does not want to witness a food fight, they want to know how we are going to put food on their table.”
Harris entered the debate as a top-tier candidate with support of 7%, but still well behind Biden’s 32%, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polls. In the spin room, she stressed that she has work to do to attract supporters, while Biden is already well-known. “I’m still in the process of introducing my work and my plan to voters across the country,” she said.
Steele said Harris likely “ate into Biden’s numbers, not a lot, but enough to make the Biden campaign leave the Rose Garden.”
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Another debate participant, author and activist Marianne Williamson, declined to declare Harris as the night’s victor. “I don’t know about won,” Williamson said of the California senator in the spin room. “I thought she was great,” but Williamson added that New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders also performed well.
Williamson was No. 1 among Thursday’s 10 debate participants when it came to generating a spike in Google searches, while Harris was No. 2. Williamson got attention for her unconventional statements at the debate, as she declared that she would “harness love for political purposes” and promised that her first call as president would be to New Zealand’s prime minister.
Thursday’s event concluded a two-part primary debate in Miami that began with a session Wednesday that featured 10 other Democratic presidential hopefuls.
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