Democratic Presidential Debate 2016 Live Updates: Best Twitter Reactions, Memes And Analysis As It Happens

UPDATE: 10:58 p.m. EST – In their closing remarks, both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders returned to their key campaign messages. Clinton underscored her commitment to “break down barriers that stand in the way of people living up their potentials,” arguing she would take on economic barriers. The former secretary of state insisted she would act as a unifier but also stand her ground on important issues.

In his closing statement, Sanders went back to economic issues, asking, “Is it acceptable that Wall Street and billionaires are spending millions trying to buy elections?” The Vermont senator said Americans need to “stand up and fight back” against vested interests.

UPDATE: 10:53 p.m. EST – When asked about the opening on the Supreme Court and what qualities they would seek in the successor to Justice Scalia, Hillary Clinton said she supported President Barack Obama’s decision to move forward with an appointment. She argued that it was essential to put enormous pressure on Republicans to “do their constitutional duty.” Clinton highlighted the importance of the court, reminding Florida voters about the 2000 Bush vs. Gore case that decided a presidential election.

UPDATE: 10:46 p.m. EST — After showing a 1985 video of Bernie Sanders praising former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, moderator Maria Elena Salinas asked Sanders how his form of socialism is different from the Cuban brand.

Sanders said he supported a Democratic Cuba and added that opening up diplomatic relations with Cuba “will result in significant improvements for the lives of Cubans.”

UPDATE: 10:36 p.m. EST — The moderators asked about climate change, after a group of Florida mayors called for the topic to be included in the presidential debates this week. "We need a political revolution in this country," replied Bernie Sanders.

Hillary Clinton offered more modest proposals, and Sanders asked her to join his call for a ban on fracking — a line that received a lot of applause. The former of secretary of state also defended President Barack Obama's and her husband Bill Clinton's records.

UPDATE: 10:24 p.m. EST — When questioned about his education plan, Bernie Sanders explained his idea to Jorge Ramos, saying that students should not be punished with lots of debt.

"I don't think they will, but Donald Trump's kids can go to public school right now," Sanders said. "We're going to get to Donald Trump by raising the taxes on the top 1 percent and on millionaires and billionaires."

Hillary Clinton, for her part, said that she would help refinance student loans and declared that the government should not make money off lending money to students.

“We’re going to refinance everyone’s existing student debt — 40 million Americans have student debt,” Clinton said. “After a certain number of years, you no longer have to pay anything. The government has to quit making money off of people paying off their education.”

Sanders replied to Clinton's ideas by saying he thought of them first. "Thanks for copying a very good idea," he said.

UPDATE: 10:13 p.m. EST — Bernie Sanders got a question about why voters should choose a career politician like him, and he pointed the moderators to his record. He said he did not take money from Wall Street, from the pharmaceutical industry or from the fossil fuel industry "because they are destroying this planet."

"It is true that I have served in Congress for many years, but if you check my record it is a record of strength," Sanders said. "Look at the record and it is a record that I am proud of."

UPDATE: 10:06 p.m. EST — When Jorge Ramos asked Hillary Clinton about Benghazi and presented her with a video of a mother of one of the four Americans killed in the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya calling her a liar, the audience reacted with rousing boos.

“I feel a great deal of sympathy for the families of the four brave Americans that we lost in Benghazi, and I certainly can’t even imagine the grief she has from losing her son. But she’s wrong. She’s absolutely wrong,” Clinton said.

She continued by emphasizing her testimony in front of Congress on the topic. “I testified for 11 hours, anybody that watched that and listened to it know that I have answered that question,” Clinton said.

UPDATE: 9:55 p.m. EST — A woman from the audience asked the candidates what they would do to stop deportations, saying she has not seen her husband in three years.

Sanders said he wants to "unite families," while Clinton spoke directly to the woman and called her brave.

“The idea that a mother is living here and her children are on the other side of the border is wrong,” Sanders said. “That is beyond comprehension and policies that should not be allowed to exist.”

Clinton added: “I will do everything that I can to unite your family. Your children deserve to be with their mother.”

UPDATE: 9:44 p.m. EST — Bernie Sanders hit back at Hillary Clinton after she said he supported a bill that protected the vigilante group the Minutemen, who patrolled the Mexico-U.S. border for undocumented immigrants, saying, "That is a horrific statement."

"Madam Secretary, I will match my record against yours any day of the week," Sanders said.

UPDATE: 9:39 p.m. EST — The next question is about deporting children: “Can you promise tonight that you won’t deport children, and that you won’t deport immigrants without a criminal record?”

Hillary Clinton meandered around the question, eventually saying she would not. “I will not deport children — I will not deport children, I do not want to deport family members either, Jorge.”

Bernie Sanders said Clinton did not fully answer the question and criticized Clinton over previously saying she would send some children back to countries they were coming from. "Secretary Clinton did not support those children coming into this country. I did," Sanders said. "I will not deport children."

UPDATE: 9:30 p.m. EST — The questions turned to immigration, and Hillary Clinton said she has been committed to comprehensive immigration reform. She quickly criticized Bernie Sanders for previously voting against it. He hit back, saying that he was concerned the guest-worker aspect of the bill would treat immigrants like slaves.

Clinton, though, called this an "excuse," and added: "I am committed to introducing comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship within my first 100 days as president."

UPDATE: 9:20 p.m. EST — The moderators asked Hillary Clinton asked about the scandal around the private email server she used while serving as secretary of state,and she seemed exasperated when Jorge Ramos followed up, asking what would happen if she were indicted.

Both candidates were then asked if they would call Republican front-runner Donald Trump a racist. Clinton responded by criticizing Trump's slogan "Make American Great Again" and saying she disavowed his tactics.

Sanders also hit Trump over the Republican's anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric. "I think that the American people are never going to elect a president who insults Mexicans, who insults Muslims, who insults women, who insults African-Americans," Sanders said.

UPDATE: 9:13 p.m. EST — The first questions for both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were about the mechanics of the race, on why Clinton failed in the Michigan primary and what Sanders' path forward looks like.

"I was pleased that I got 100,000 more votes last night than my opponent, and more delegates," Clinton said, adding that she will continue running an "inclusive" campaign.

Sanders said that his campaign has come a long way in 10 months and he believes he will continue to do well. He said his message "is resonating across this country and in the coming weeks and months we’re going to continue to do extremely well."

UPDATE: 9:05 p.m. EST — As the debate began, the moderators were speaking in Spanish, with a dubbed English translation playing over their voices. Many people in the debate audience cheered as both Democratic candidates took the stage, but some reported hearing much louder cheers for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

UPDATE: 8:50 p.m. EST — Before the Democratic presidential debate Wednesday night, CNN aired an interview with Republican front-runner Donald Trump, where he discussed a range of topics, including the need for the United States military to take on terrorism and his press conference after Tuesday's primaries, in which he hawked many Trump products including Trump Steaks.

After talking about terrorism, Trump told CNN's Anderson Cooper that he thinks "Islam hates us" and emphasized that he would make America's military stronger than any other presidential candidate.

Original Story:

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders were scheduled to face off in a one-on-one showdown for the fourth time Wednesday night, just one day after Sanders delivered an upset victory in the Michigan primary and reminded Clinton and the media that he is in the race for the long haul. The debate starts at 9 p.m. EST and is hosted by Univision and the Washington Post in Miami, ahead of Florida's important primary next week.

Clinton remains far ahead of Sanders in the delegate count, standing at 760 pledged delegates to his 546 after the Michigan and Mississippi primaries Tuesday night. While Sanders surprised everyone by winning in Michigan, the race was close, giving each candidate a similar number of delegates. In Mississippi, on the other hand, Clinton continued her dominance of Southern states, winning nearly 83 percent of the vote and 29 of the state’s 33 delegates.

Still, Sanders did better among African-American voters in Michigan than he has in the South and demonstrated his ability to appeal to white, working-class voters on economic issues — important in states such as Ohio and Illinois that vote next Tuesday.

Sanders and Clinton have typically used debates to discuss substantive policy issues and to highlight differences between their proposals, and Wednesday night was expected to be no different. Because of the debate’s location, the moderators were expected to ask about immigration policy, a topic on which the Democratic candidates differ significantly from the Republican field.

Clinton and Sanders both support a legal pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in the United States, and both have said they would keep President Barack Obama’s executive actions intended to stop the deportation of undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children and undocumented parents whose children are U.S. citizens. But the Vermont senator has said he would also protect from deportation immigrants who have lived in America for at least five years.

The debate will be broadcast in Spanish on Univision, in English on CNN and Fusion and online on Univision, Fusion, CNN and the Washington Post’s websites. As the candidates make their cases to Florida voters, check back here for live updates throughout the night.