At Local 16 bar in Washington, D.C., dozens of voters have gathered to watch the Democratic debate.
D.C. for Warren, D.C. for Pete, and Washington D.C. Yang Gang are gathering downstairs. Upstairs, attendees of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference mingle with Bernie Sanders’ Our Revolution.
Downstairs, there’s also a small group of Sanders fans. As passersby peer in the window to see what everyone is watching so intently on the TV screen, fans in blue shirts commiserate over beer.
“Big change is needed,” explains James Carton, 45, who says he’s associated with Our Revolution, a nonprofit group that aims to “reclaim democracy for the working people of our country by harnessing the transformative energy of the ‘political revolution.’”
Carton says he sees income inequality as one of the biggest issues in America today. If Bernie didn’t make it through the primaries, he said, he’d vote for Elizabeth Warren because “she’s worried for the middle class.”
As for whether his party has moved past the hour of the old white male, Carton concedes, “Bernie doesn’t strike you as someone who worries about people who don’t look like him.” But he quickly adds that “it shouldn’t be like that,” because Sanders, no matter his race or gender, has a message that’s “battle-tested.”
Upstairs, Curt Levey is lingering underneath an overhang after it has begun to drizzle. Unlike most of the other attendees, he isn’t there to cheer on a candidate. Levey is not a Democrat, but he’s there to support his friend from the DMV Grassroots Coordinating Committee.
Levey says he voted for President Trump in 2016 and likely will in 2020, though he has voted for Democrats in the past. He won’t vote for one of the candidates on stage Thursday night, he says, but he thinks Andrew Yang is intriguing despite his universal basic income policy. He also finds Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden likeable.
If nominated, he says, Biden and Buttigieg might have a chance, but given the leftward lurch of the Democratic Party, he won’t be voting blue any time soon.
Jim McBride, the one who invited Levey to the watch party, is standing at the other end of the room, surveying the crowd. He works in communications for the DMV Grassroots Coordinating Committee.
The group’s mission is to engage voters in the Beltway and support the election of Democrats nationwide. He says there’s been a good turnout to the event, and he expects there are a couple of hundred debate-watchers.
He’s a fan of Biden himself, and he hopes he could be “good to bring Americans together,” he said.
Whatever happens at the debate Thursday may not sway viewers much, though.
Sylvester Johnson, 24, is attending the event because he’s ready for new leadership in 2020, and he’s hoping to see a female on the ballot. He’s wearing a shirt with the names of all of the female Democratic candidates, but he says he’s specifically pulling for Kamala Harris. She’s “tough,” he explains.
Sarah Alexander, a young woman, says she prefers Harris or Buttigieg. She hopes they can present a platform, or at least a demeanor, that appeals to more than just Democratic voters.
She’s a registered Democrat, but she says she’s aware that many Republicans are worried not so much about Trump’s policies, but about his rhetoric. At the end of the day, she says, “I hope the Left votes.”
As for whether the votes will help, McBride says Democrats will have to close up the divisions that split them in 2016 and also reach across the aisle.
“They’ll have to do more than watch MSNBC,” he said. “Maybe even watch Fox sometimes.”
