CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – Here are the latest developments from the Democratic presidential candidates’ final debate before the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses.
All times local.
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9:16 p.m.
Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are reiterating their push to reform the criminal justice system, with Clinton saying it’s riddled with “systemic racism” and Sanders deriding it as “broken.”
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9:15 p.m.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are clashing early on guns in a Democratic presidential debate blocks from where nine people were killed by a white gunman at a historic black church in June.
Sanders says Clinton’s assertion that he’s a tool of the gun lobby is “disingenuous” and notes that he has a lifetime rating of a D- from the National Rifle Association.
He says he’s always supported bans on military style assault weapons, though Clinton counters that he voted several times against the Brady Bill that eventually became law under her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
Hillary Clinton has hammered Sanders for weeks for voting effectively to shield gun manufacturers from legal liability in gun deaths. Sanders says the bill was unfair to independent gun retailers, whom he has said don’t deserve to be sued. He says he would support legislation that would target manufacturers specifically. Sanders also argues that as a “senator from a rural state that has virtually no gun control” he’s in an “excellent position to bring people together on the politically sensitive issue.”
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9:08 p.m.
Martin O’Malley says investing in cities will be a top priority in his first days in office.
Asked about his priorities for his first 100 days in office, the former Maryland governor says Sunday that he would focus on efforts to boost wages, promote clean energy and enhance cities.
The former mayor of Baltimore says: “We have not had a new agenda for America’s cities since Jimmy Carter.”
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9:07 p.m.
Bernie Sanders says three of the major issues he’d pursue as president are raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, rebuilding crumbling roads and bridges and making health care available to everyone.
He says he’d focus his first 100 days in office on “bringing America together to end the decline of the middle class.”
Sanders is centering his campaign on making wealthy Americans pay what he calls their “fair share.” He says his campaign is about “thinking big.”
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9:01 p.m.
The Democratic presidential debate is underway, with three candidates set to clash over health care, gun policy and more in a forum just a few blocks from the “Mother Emanuel” church where nine parishioners were murdered last year.