As the third Democratic Candidate debate came and went, so did some of the details of the night. Although the candidates were heavily reduced to the top 10 leading democrats running, it was still dizzying to keep track of everything. 

Taking place in Texas Southern University in Houston, one of the nation’s biggest and most inclusive historically black universities (HBCU), the debate allowed candidates to address America’s most pressing issues on many topics that hold close ties to the venue. The candidates came forth with solutions of their own to resolve a number of issues, including healthcare, education system, prison reform and more. 

It was hosted by ABC News, moderated by a diverse panel with decisive and occasionally prying questions that prompted the candidates to stay astutely engaged and fight for speaking time during its three-hour runtime.

Former Vice President Joe Biden engaged in a winding discussion about the topic of healthcare, which was, along with gun reform, one of the most argued and prominent discussion topics of the night, citing that he agrees with and stands with President Obama’s vision of Obamacare for the future.

Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren pushed back against Biden saying “And now the question is, what is the best way we improve on it?”

Meanwhile, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders was trying to push for an approach to healthcare similar to how Canada and Scandinavia are enforcing it; to provide guaranteed healthcare for all Americans in what he believes is the most cost-effective method, the “Medicare for All” bill.

Sanders also cited that he wrote the bill himself, which has a means to eliminating private insurance of which 149 million Americans currently have, which is pointed about and disagreed by Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar. 

The three candidates had enough to chew on in between themselves and were joined by either agreement and appraisal for Obama’s efforts, or endorsement of Medicare for All, but had more things to say when they were asked grappling questions about their stance on racism and gun reform. 

New Jersey senator Cory Booker spoke about systemic racism in America, spanning from healthcare to the criminal justice system and his main objective is to combat and reform the structure of the government by calling it out and having a plan to do something about it. 

“The question isn’t who is isn’t a racist. The question is who is or isn’t doing something about racism,” Booker stated bluntly.

He went further to state that he will create an office in the White House that would be mandated to specifically deal with the problem of white supremacy and hate crimes. Former Texas Representative Beto O’Rourke and California senator Kamala Harris all voiced their agreement on about the matter, seeing President Trump as the main figurehead and cause of the explosive white supremacy today. 

Gun reform continued to be a hot topic of the debate as every candidate had very strong opinions about the current policies and the terror that has been induced by white supremacists.

The air of this debate captured the amicable disposition representing the debate as a whole, as every candidate agreed upon that Donald Trump was the nation’s enemy. 

“In Odessa, [Texas], I met the mother of a 15-year-old girl who was shot by an AR 15,” O’Rourke shared. “That mother watched her bleed to death over the course of an hour because so many other people were shot by that AR 15.

“Hell yes, were going to take your AR 15, your AK 47, were not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore.”  O’Rourke fierily spoke on the matter, being one of the most direct verbal actions against gun-owners by one of the candidates. 

Following the theme of showing disapproval towards the way Trump has been governing the nation, Harris added, “In El Paso they said do you think Trump is responsible for what happened and I said well look, I mean obviously he didn’t pull the trigger, but he’s certainly been tweeting out the ammunition.” 

On the other issues, like climate change and school funding and teacher salaries, many candidates had similar things to say regarding the problem. Entrepreneur Andrew Yang, a business-man turned candidate, offered the most innovative idea by claiming the best way to fund any of projects is by putting more money in the hands of the American people.

Yang proposes to give every American 100 “democracy dollars” which they would then have the choice of donating to candidates and causes that they like, effectively washing out the lobbyist cash by a factor of 8 to 1.

This way more neighborhoods will have the means of providing more effective at-home education, which is a majority of the educational influence children get in their lives, even more than that from a government-funded charter school. 

All in all, the debate was moderated smoothly, there was a professional disposition between the candidates as many lauded each other for their past accomplishments and gave constructive criticism, with only a few personal attacks that were quickly thwarted.

President Donald Trump was personally called out several times with respect to gun control and climate change issues. It seemed as though all of the candidates are prepared to face President Trump for the coming election. Rather than just being an endless Sorites paradox-like discussion, there was more unity and reinforced hope for democratic voters.