The third Democratic debate hosted by ABC ran for a grueling three hours on Thursday night. In those three hours, the Demoratic candidates battled back and forth as the centrist and progressive wings of the parties clashed with full force. Who were the winners and losers of the longest debate of the primaries so far?

Winners

President Donald Trump 

President Donald Trump will be resting easy tonight after the Democratic debate highlighted a clear weakness in the Democratic party. Throughout the night, candidates came off as unhinged, divided, and most of all, clueless. From Biden’s shaky performance, Sanders’ lack of a performance, and the endless infighting from the first hour of the debate, we can expect Trump to have a field day picking apart the worst moments of this debate. Trump’s poll numbers have been doing poorly over the last few months… but after seeing the lack of excitement for many of the people running for president, I expect his poll numbers to rise. 

Former Secretary Julian Castro

Castro only barely managed to make the debates and he certainly showed his desperation tonight. The former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development went down hard on Joe Biden calling him out on his age and previous positions multiple times. Castro’s command of the debates had him clocking in some of the most speaking time out of all of the candidates on the stage. Although a lot of his attacks are now being debunked or criticized, to the average American watching the debates, zingers are all that matters and Castro managed to get a ton of them out there.

Senator Elizabeth Warren

Warren did a great job defending her progressive agenda during the first part of the night and did a sufficient job talking about education and attacking charter schools. Overall, her performance was very composed compared to her fellow Democrats and her poll numbers will definitely grow a lot more thanks to that. Warren has long been labeled as a less radical Bernie Sanders but tonight she managed to distinguish herself and prove that she can not only outflank her opponents, but completely dominate a debate.

Former representative Beto O’Rourke

Beto has had a bad time running for president so far. The excitement around his name had all but dried up but his campaign is experiencing a resurgence at the moment thanks to his response to the El Paso shootings recently. O’Rourke attacked both the media and President Trump for their lack of care of the shootings in a viral clip that helped boost his campaign. O’Rourke kept the momentum going tonight which he used to condemn Donald Trump multiple times and make the bold claim that the United States will make AR-15s illegal. This very bold stance will definitely help his poll numbers enough to keep him afloat for a little while more.

The Democratic establishment

In the second Democratic debate, we saw Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren team up to refute and defend their plans from the centrists candidates. Tonight, we saw them attempt this strategy again during the Medicare for All phase of the debates, which to their credit went pretty well. The only problem is that the 2 progressives were unable to continue the momentum from the first half of the debate. Bernie was mostly silent during key moments and he didn’t truly begin to do well till the back half of the debate which was too little too late at that point. Although warren definitely did do well tonight the actual progressive agenda did not make its voice heard enough and took a backseat to the moderates’ agenda.

Losers

Senator Bernie Sanders

Bernie had a very hit or miss night with him doing really well in very specific moments but failed to make his voice heard enough to distinguish himself throughout the night. Bernie’s best strategy is to be the angry old man which is its own form of charisma. However tonight he was often quiet and definitely underperformed compared to Warren. Although he didn’t do bad tonight, I do expect his poll numbers to fall which is the worst thing that could happen to his campaign especially when Biden’s lead continues to fall. 

Former Vice President Joe Biden

Poor Joe Biden had to take the brunt of the attacks once again. While it is commendable that he was able to stand his ground, once again he had weird moments where his mind fails him. If Biden wanted to prove that he could be the leader to beat Donald Trump, he failed tonight. He often fell back on Obama so much that he was called out on it by Castro. Overall Biden just looked tired and despite managing to deflect a lot of the attacks on him, his momentum continues to fall as more and more Americans see Biden for what he is. 

Senator Kamala Harris

Kamala was the shining star in the first Democratic debate after calling out Biden for his record. In the second debate Tulsi Gabbard called out Kamala’s record resulting in her momentum coming to screeching halt. Harris had a lot riding on this debate especially since she’d once again face off against Biden. Tonight however, she failed to create any sort of excitement for herself and was outshone by candidates like Booker, O’Rourke, and Castro. 

Andrew Yang

Yang had one of the worst performances of the night mostly because his lack of one. After being a standout hit of the second Democratic debate, a lot was riding on him tonight so that he could continue his momentum and bring even more attention to UBI. Instead, Yang only talked for seven  minutes of the debate and barely focused on his primary promise. While he did propose an interesting idea with Democracy Dollars, coming out in support of charter schools was a bad move on his part. Yang’s online following will most likely continue to support him after this but when the nomination hinges on the average democratic voter, Yang is all but confirmed to not be able to get it.

The Democratic party

While the debate was a good night for the establishment, the debate tonight was a terrible look at the party and their commitments to their constituents. Most polls at the moment have the Democratic base completely supporting key issues like medicare for all. Tonight we saw the Democratic establishment actively attempt to quell the progressive wing of the party with fair success. However this creates two massive problems for the party. One, a lack of excitement from the Democratic base, a problem faced by Hillary in 2016. Two, the Democratic party has never looked more divided than tonight, something that like I said before Trump will capitalize on.