Democrats united on impeaching Donald Trump but debate shows broader policy divisions remain

The candidates repeatedly blasted Trump and said the president’s efforts to press Ukraine to investigate former vice-president Joe Biden

However, candidates remained split on health care and tax policy, which has exposed a gap between the moderate and progressive wings of the party

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Former vice-president Joe Biden. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:33pm, 21 Nov 2019Updated: 10:28pm, 21 Nov 2019

Democratic White House contenders united in condemning Republican President Donald Trump and supporting the inquiry into his impeachment at a debate on Wednesday, but largely backed away from the pointed attacks that marked their earlier encounters.

During the fifth debate in the Democratic race to pick a challenger to Trump in the November 2020 election, candidates expressed differences on details of health care and tax policy but kept their disagreements polite.

US Senator Elizabeth Warren, the progressive who has pushed ambitious plans to tax wealth and create a government-run health care plan, and Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who has been rising the polls, escaped what had been expected to be sustained attacks from their rivals.

Buttigieg defended his relative lack of experience, saying it was not traditional establishment Washington experience but “the right experience to take on Donald Trump”.

US Senator Amy Klobuchar agreed he deserved his spot on the debate stage, but she said there was a double standard when it came to women candidates.

“Otherwise we could play a game called name your favourite woman president,” Klobuchar said, adding: “If you think a woman can’t beat Trump, [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi does it every day.”

The candidates repeatedly blasted Trump and said the president’s efforts to press Ukraine to investigate former vice-president Joe Biden, a leading Democratic presidential contender, were an example of the administration’s corruption.