Democratic debate: Live updates, livestream

The second Democratic presidential primary debate continues Wednesday with 10 candidates taking the stage in Detroit.

What time: The debate begins at 8 p.m. ET, and lasts for two hours.

Who is will be on stage Wednesday: The second night of the two-night debate will see these 10 candidates on stage at the Fox Theatre in this order from left to right:

  1. Michael Bennet
  2. Kirsten Gillibrand
  3. Julián Castro
  4. Cory Booker
  5. Joe Biden
  6. Kamala Harris
  7. Andrew Yang
  8. Tulsi Gabbard
  9. Jay Inslee
  10. Bill de Blasio

Livestream: The debate will stream live in its entirety without requiring log-in to a cable provider, "exclusively on CNN.com's homepage, across mobile devices via CNN's apps for iOS and Android, and via CNNgo apps for Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Chromecast and Android TV."

Live Updates

The debate has ended.

The closing arguments

10:44 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Here is what the candidates said in their closing arguments:

De Blasio: If we are going to beat Donald Trump this has to be a party that stands for something.

Bennet: I think we have an incredible opportunity to come together … to put the divisive politics of Donald Trump behind us.

Inslee: Under Donald Trump, we face a looming catastrophe on climate change. Climate change must be the top priority of this country.

Gillibrand: I know how to beat Donald Trump. … I've done this before.

Gabbard: Warmongering politicians have failed us. I will end wasteful regime change wars.

Castro: The election is about what kind of nation we will become.

Yang: We need to be laser-focused on solving the real challenges of our world today.

Booker: We have a real crisis in our country. The crisis is Donald Trump … beating Trump is the floor, not the ceiling.

Harris: We have a predator living in the White House. … they prey on people they perceive to be weak, who need help.

Biden: We are in a battle for the soul of America. … Four more years of Donald Trump will be an abomination. … We choose hope over fear.

Mueller and indicting Trump

10:33 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Booker and Castro call for impeachment proceedings to begin

“When we look back in history at what happened when a president of the United States started acting more like an authoritarian leader than the leader of the free world, the question is, what will we have done?” Booker said. “And I believe the Congress should do its job.”

“He’s going to say, you see? You see? The Democrats didn’t go after me on impeachment, and you know why? Because I didn’t do anything wrong,” Castro said.

A mistake in judgment

10:20 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Inslee says he voted against the Iraq War as a congressman. Tapper asks Biden if he made a mistake voting for the war. "I did make a bad judgment," Biden says, for trusting former president George W. Bush.

Gillibrand goes after Biden on women's issues

10:15 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Gillibrand asks Biden about his past comments about women working outside of the home. She says she wants to know what he meant when he said that women working outside of the home were detrimental to the family.

Biden explained that his comments were on a bill that would not help women with childcare expenses and that he knew something about that because he was a dad who stayed home with three young children.

Harris then slams Biden over comments he made about the gender pay gap and the Hyde Amendment.

Biden turns to ask Gillibrand why she is reversing her onetime praise of him on all types of women’s issues. “I don’t know what’s happened, except you weren’t running for president,” Biden said.

Yang on pay equity

10:10 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Yang says his universal basic income plan -- $1,000 a month for everyone -- would help to compensate women for the "unrecognized and uncompensated work" they do.

Where does Biden stand on TPP?

10 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Biden is asked what he would do about the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He says he would "renegotiate" it. He is pushed on the issue by de Blasio who asks if he would involve labor in those discussions, Biden simply says, "Yes."

The president is watching

How did the Dems lose Michigan?

9:50 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: "We lost the state of Michigan because everybody from Republicans to Russians were targeting the suppression of African American voters," Booker says. "We need to say that."

Get out the Clorox

9:46 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Gillibrand is asked what is the first thing she will do as president. "First I'll Clorox the Oval Office, she said.

Climate change is the topic

9:40 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Inslee is asked about climate change and he attacks Biden's climate crisis plan. He says the plan is not serious enough. Biden says "we can work it out," when asked about phasing out fracking.

Inslee fires back, “We cannot work it out,” Inslee said. “Our house is on fire.”

Who is getting the most air time

9:30 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Up to the first commercial break, Biden and Harris are leading in speaking time.

Biden has 8 minutes and 27 seconds. Harris has 7 minutes and 16 seconds, according to The New York Times.

Bennet is third, with de Blasio fourth.

Harris on the hot seat

9:29 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Harris is asked whether her view on busing is that different then Biden's – the person whose stance on busing she criticized in the first debate. She said, "On that issue, we could not be more apart."

Biden and Harris go at each other again on their records on criminal reform.

Gabbard goes after Harris’ record as a prosecutor, as well, saying she kept people in jail for cheap labor for the state and laughed about putting people in jail for smoking marijuana then laughed about it when asked if she smoked marijuana. “When you were in a position to help, you did not,” Gabbard said.

Gabbard went on to accuse Harris, saying, “You blocked evidence that would have freed someone from death row until the courts made you turn the evidence over.”

Criminal justice reform

9:15 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Biden and Booker engage in an exchange over criminal justice reform. Biden asks Booker why he oversaw a corrupt police department. Booker asks him why he crafted the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. Biden again goes after Booker's record as mayor of Newark. "I am shocked that you do [want to compare records]," Booker said. 

What they were yelling

9:10 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: When Booker was interrupted during his opening statement, protesters were yelling "Fire Pantaleo" – referencing Daniel Pantaleo, the officer who put Eric Garner in a chokehold leading up to his death, according to The Guardian.

Get rid of the 'white nationalist'

9 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Inslee says America needs to no longer have a "white nationalist" in the White House. The crowd cheers.

On to immigration

8:52 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: The discussion has turned to immigration. Bennet says he does not support decriminalization, nor does Biden. As Biden is explaining his view on decriminalization, protesters start yelling.

Biden says he doesn't remember Castro talking about this issue when he was at Obama Cabinet meetings.

Biden goes to 'malarky'

8:49 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Biden goes to one of his favorite words to defend his health care plan, calling what the others are saying "a bunch of malarky.

Whose talking points?

8:45 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: For the third time tonight, the term "Republican talking points has come up."

More on health care

8:40 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Harris continues to support her plan. She says former HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius supports her plan. Gabbard says Sebelius wrote the plan, something Harris clapped back on.

Biden, Harris says, is trying to maintain the status quo for the health care industry. Biden says he will build on the success of Obamacare.

Health care comes up first

8:36 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Harris gets the first question, and it is on health care. She is asked about her Medicare for all system that will be implemented over a 10-year period.

Biden questions which plan she is talking about. “The senator has had several plans so far,” Biden said. He also asks why it would take 10 years to get the plan going. He says it’s too expensive and “confusing.”

Booker gets shouted at

8:30 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Booker's opening statement is interrupted by protesters.

Opening statements

8:25 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: The opening statements:

de Blasio goes after Biden and Harris by name.

Bennet says Trump does not love your children.

Inslee says we are the “last, best hope” to save humanity and the planet. His main campaign cause is climate change.

Gillibrand says she doesn’t know the meaning of “impossible.” “Beating Donald Trump is not impossible.”

Gabbard says she is patriotic and the president is not acting like a patriot.

Castro promised to make America “better than its ever been.”

Yang delivers his trademark line: “The opposite of Donald Trump is an Asian man who likes math.”

Harris says she is a fighter and will continue to be one.

Biden says fireworks is expected tonight, but he has a message for Trump, “Mr. President, we are not leaving this country to you.”

Biden speaks to Harris

8:03 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: As the candidates are being introduced, Biden, who was introduced first, tells Harris, introduced second, to "Go easy on me, kid."

The debate is starting

8:01 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: The candidates are being introduced and the debate is about to get started.

Tulsi Gabbard says debate was unfair

7:59 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Sen. Tulsi Gabbard has tweeted that the Tuesday debate was unfair, saying that CNN is biased and should not be "picking winners."

Were the questions too Republican?

7:50 p.m. July 31, 2019: Critics of the format of Tuesday's debate said they felt CNN moderators framed the questions in a way favorable to Republicans. Do you agree? Here are the most criticized questions the moderators from CNN asked: "Will you take private insurance from Americans to give them Medicare-for-all?" "Will you raise taxes on the middle class to do it?" "Will you decriminalize illegal border crossings and give unauthorized immigrants free health care?" "Are Democrats going too far to the left?"

Tom Perez is speaking

7:35 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Perez, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, asks the crowd if they heard any discussion of "hand size" at last night's debate. Perez is referring to a discussion that happened during a Republican debate four years ago.

Union president is speaking

7:22 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Service Employees International Union President Mary Kay Henry is speaking about jobs and jobs security. She is from Detroit, she says, "a union town."

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist is speaking

7:19 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Garlin Gilchrist, the first African-American lieutenant governor of Michigan, is telling the crowd about diversity in his state's government. He reminds the crowd the top offices in the state are held by women, and that the attorney general is gay.

Who watched?

7:10 p.m. July 31, 2019: Trump just tweeted about the ratings for last night's debate.

Tuesday’s debate from Detroit was watched by 8.7 million viewers. That’s 7 million fewer than the June 26 Miami debate hosted by NBC and Telemundo.

According to CNN, an additional 2.8 million people watched the CNN Digital livestream.

Trump goes after Lemon over debate question

7 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: President Donald Trump called CNN's moderator Don Lemon "the dumbest man on television" after Lemon called Trump a bigot during a question in Tuesday's debate.

The choir is singing

6:51 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: The Flint City Wide Choir and Dee Dee Bridgewater are singing "America the Beautiful."

The moderators for the night

6:42 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: CNN's Dana Bash, Don Lemon and Jake Tapper are returning for the second night of moderating the debate.

The rules

6:35 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Despite some complaints about CNN moderators cutting off candidates mid-answer, the rules for the debate are the same as last night -- candidates will have 60-second opening statements followed by 60 seconds to answer questions. Each candidate will also have the chance to give a 60-second closing statement.

Night two of the debate

6:30 p.m. ET July 31, 2019: Good evening, and welcome to night two of the second Democratic debate.

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