Michael Bloomberg’s rivals for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination honed in on his political vulnerabilities during his inaugural debate appearance in Nevada, forcing the billionaire former New York City mayor on the defensive for much of the evening.
Confidential agreements over sexual harassment claims at Bloomberg’s financial information and news company, the New York City Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policy during his tenure as mayor, his past comments on the discriminatory housing practice known as “redlining,” and his immense wealth were all fodder for attacks by his five opponents onstage Wednesday, each seeking the right to challenge President Trump in the fall.
Even before the broadcast, the body language of the top Democratic candidates as they gathered in Las Vegas to pose for a photograph revealed Bloomberg was the outsider and that he was their target.
During the opening question, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders dredged up Bloomberg’s previous support of stop and frisk, accusing New York City police under Bloomberg of going after African American and Latino residents in an “outrageous way.”
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren warned Democrats against “taking a huge risk” in substituting “one arrogant billionaire for another,” bringing up allegations that Bloomberg fostered a toxic work environment for his female employees at his eponymous conglomerate.
“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against: a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians, and, no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg,” she said.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar piled on the charges of sexism, referring to a Bloomberg campaign memo that suggested the crowded center-left lane in the primary was elevating Sanders to front-runner status, foreshadowing how the race will come down to Bloomberg, Sanders, and Trump.
“I’ve been told many times to step aside,” Klobuchar said, digging at Bloomberg for “hiding behind his TV ads.” Klobuchar, the former district attorney in Minnesota’s largest county, Hennepin, said, “I don’t think we can look at Donald Trump and say we need someone richer in the White House.”
Bloomberg’s competitors also ganged up on him over a lack of transparency, including failing to hand over his tax returns and health records, as well as muzzling women with nondisclosure agreements covering their complaints.
Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg distinguished himself by criticizing Sanders, imploring the party to “put forward somebody who is actually a Democrat,” a dual barb cutting Bloomberg and Sanders, categorizing the pair as “the two most polarizing figures on this stage.”
“We have to do better than one candidate who wants to blow the party up and another who wants to buy it out,” Buttigieg said.
Sanders and Buttigieg exchanged crossfire as well over their stance on billionaire donors and the senator’s efforts to distance himself from his supporters online who have attacked members of the Culinary Union, a powerful organization in Nevada, over its opposition to Medicare for All.
“You’re not the only one who cares about the working class,” the mayor said.
Amid a debate that touched on key Nevada issues such as natural resources and the role of capitalism more broadly for the country, the candidates returned to the topic of healthcare.
Warren alluded to Buttigieg’s healthcare platform as a policy “thought up by his consultants.”
“It’s not a plan. It’s a PowerPoint,” she said, adding Klobuchar’s version was a “Post-it note.”
But Warren came to Klobuchar’s defense when Buttigieg rehashed Klobuchar’s inability to name Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, saying that if being a senator for Minnesota was a crucial qualification for the White House, he “would have grown up under the presidency of Walter Mondale,” a reference to the former vice president and losing 1984 Democratic presidential nominee, who is a mentor to Klobuchar.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg responded to the incoming, hitting back at Sanders for being unelectable compared to Trump, stridently defending the existence of billionaires, and telling former Vice President Joe Biden to be quiet so he could “finish” his thought.
“I’m a New Yorker. I know how to take on an arrogant con man like Donald Trump who comes from New York,” Bloomberg said. “I’m spending that money to get rid of Donald Trump, the worst president we’ve ever had.”
Biden, whose standing is declining as Bloomberg’s has risen, was a nonentity during the format, at one point waving his hands to get the moderator’s attention.
The fiery, frenetic debate precedes Saturday’s caucuses, the third round of voting for the cycle. More than 75,000 people in Nevada have already cast ballots ahead of the Feb. 22 caucuses. In comparison, only 84,000 participated in the 2016 primary.
While the result of the Iowa caucuses is still being reviewed, Buttigieg leads the delegate count with 23 to Sanders’s 21. Bloomberg, however, is yet to compete in a contest ahead of Super Tuesday on March 3.
