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As it happenedended1568349281

Democratic debate: Protesters interrupt Joe Biden during his closing segment

10 presidential hopefuls took to the stage in Houston

Andrew Buncombe
Houston, Texas
,Clark Mindock
Friday 13 September 2019 03:25 BST
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The Democratic debate: a wrap-up video

The leading 10 candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination took to the debating stage, bringing heavyweights in the field Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders all on to the same stage for the first time.

The presidential hopefuls tackled healthcare, gun control, education and more, with several heated clashes between the rivals.

In the last section of the debate, former Vice President Biden was interrupted when he went to answer a question about his “most significant professional setback”.

Although it was unclear what the protest was about, people in the hall have said the demonstrators chanted: “We are DACA recipients. Our lives are at risk.”

Earlier in the debate Mr Biden had been questioned about deportations under the Barack Obama administration, a question which he deftly dodged.

He came under particular fire from Julian Castro, both over who could claim the mantle of being the true successor to Barack Obama and, controversially, over Mr Biden's memory.

Beto O'Rourke focused on gun violence and said he would institute a mandatory buyback scheme for assault rifles, saying: "Hell yes, we are going to take your AR-15s."

Tonight’s candidates were: Mr Biden, Ms Warren, Mr Sanders Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, and Andrew Yang.

Catch-up on events as they happened below.

Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load

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When it came to speaking time, Joe Biden dominated tonight's debate, according to The New York Times. At the other end of the table was Andrew Yang, with the hashtag #LetYangSpeak trending on Twitter.

Here are the 10 candidates in order of most speaking time to least:

Joe Biden

Elizabeth Warren

Cory Booker

Bernie Sanders

Kamala Harris

Pete Buttigieg

Julian Castro

Amy Klobuchar

Beto O'Rourke

Andrew Yang

Lucy Anna Gray13 September 2019 05:18
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That's all for our live coverage of the latest Democratic presidential debate. Thanks for following.

Lucy Anna Gray13 September 2019 05:22

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