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A Guide on the 2020 Democratic Candidates and Where They Stand

Have you ever just sat there and watched a whole 2020 Democratic debate while taking notes and paying rapt attention? Well, I have and I did it for one reason: I want you, lovely readers, to vote in the upcoming primary election.

For Chicagoans, that means March 17 is the big day but you can start early voting as soon as March 2 (make sure you’re registered to vote and know where your polling place is).

This blog will serve as your guide on who to vote for based on the extensive notes I took during the last Democratic debate (which took place on February 25) before Super Tuesday. What is Super Tuesday? Keep reading to find out about that and more political terms that are thrown around (yet nobody bothers to explain for some reason).

Shortcuts to each candidate below:

2020 Democratic Candidates


Joe Biden

Photo by David Lienemann

Former Vice President Biden was, as the name implies, Former President Obama’s second-in-command. Before that, he was a member of the United States Senate representing Delaware. He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania and is 77 years old (born in 1942).

As of now, he has 48 delegates (another term I will explain later) in the 2020 primaries, placing him in second place. Below are some of the policies he supports and his beliefs and practices based on his last debate performance.

Stance on Financial Affairs

  1. Received funding from billionaires for his campaign

Stance on Foreign Affairs

  1. Believes in imposing sanctions against Russia for election interference

Stance on Gun Control

  1. Supports the Brady Bill

  2. Wants to go against gun manufactures

Stance on Health and Wellness

  1. Wants to invest in finding cures for obesity, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s

  2. Believes in increasing budget for the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Stance on Minority Rights

  1. Against Redlining, institutionalized racism, and gentrification

  2. Wrote the 1994 Crime Bill that put many Blacks and Latinos in jail

Stance on War

  1. Voted for War in Iraq in 2002


Michael Bloomberg

Photo from Bloomberg Philanthropies

Update: Former Mayor Bloomberg has officially dropped out of the 2020 presidential race.

Former Mayor Bloomberg was the former mayor of New York City, serving for three terms until 2013. In 1981 he founded his own software company, Bloomberg L.P. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1942 making him 78 years old.

He currently has no delegates, tying him for sixth place in the 2020 primaries. Below are some of the beliefs and practices he spoke about during the last debate.

Stance on Education

  1. Believes the only way to solve poverty is through education

  2. Wants to raise teacher salaries

Stance on Financial Affairs

  1. Wants to focus on the U.S. debt

  2. He funded many Republicans including Lindsey Graham

  3. Has not shown his taxes

Stance on Foreign Affairs

  1. Wants to cut back on troops in the Middle East

  2. Against moving the U.S. Embassy back to Tel Aviv in Israel

  3. Believes in splitting land between Palestine and Israel

  4. Believes in negotiating with foreign powers like the President of China, Xi Jinping

Stance on Gun Control

  1. Funded Moms Demand Action for gun control

Stance on Health and Wellness

  1. Believes we have an obesity problem

Stance on Marijuana

  1. Against legalizing marijuana

  2. Will not take away the legalization of marijuana from states that have legalized it

  3. Wants to remove marijuana charges from records

Stance on Minority Rights

  1. Implemented “stop-and-frisk” while he was mayor which was a police tactic that mostly targeted young Black and Latino men

  2. Has a history of discriminating against women at his company


Pete Buttigieg

Photo by Gage Skidmore

Update: Former Mayor Pete has officially dropped out of the 2020 presidential race.

Former Mayor Pete was the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana (from 2012 to 2020) where he was born and raised. At 38 years old (born in 1982) he is the youngest 2020 Democratic candidate and he is the first presidential candidate to be openly gay.

He has, as of now, 26 delegates in the 2020 primaries putting him in third place. Here are some of the policies he is for and against as well as his beliefs which he shared during the last debate:

Stance on Education

  1. Supports public educators

  2. Wants to invest in education

  3. Wants an adequate mental health system for children

  4. Does not propose student loan debt cancellation

Stance on Financial Affairs

  1. Wants the minimum wage to increase

  2. Wants to raise taxes for billionaires

  3. Supports grassroots contributions

  4. Received funding from billionaires for his campaign

Stance on Foreign Affairs

  1. Against invading countries and stands with the people of Idlib

Stance on Gun Control

  1. Believes in common-sense gun laws

  2. Against having assault weapons sold near schools, churches, or neighborhoods

Stance on Health and Wellness

  1. Against eliminating private insurance companies

  2. Does not believe in free universal healthcare

Stance on Voting Rights

  1. Wants a 21st-century voting rights act to help those who have been systemically suppressed

Stance on War

  1. Believes in having more intelligence capabilities and specialists rather than deploying more troops


Amy Klobuchar

Photo from United States Senate

Update: Senator Klobuchar has officially dropped out of the 2020 presidential race.

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar represents the state of Minnesota and is the first woman to do so. She was also born and raised in Plymouth, Minnesota and is 59 years old (born in 1960). Before becoming a senator, she was the head lawyer of the largest prosecutor firm in Minnesota.

She is in fifth place for the 2020 primaries with 7 delegates. Below are some of the beliefs and policies she supported during the last debate.

Stance on Education

  1. Believes in incentivizing college students to go into medicine

  2. Wants to make 1-year and 2-year degrees free

Stance on Financial Affairs

  1. Wants to increase the minimum wage

Stance on Foreign Affairs

  1. Wants to work better with U.S. allies

  2. Supports lifting the embargo on Cuba and starting to do business with Cuba

  3. Supports the Iran nuclear agreement

Stance on Gun Control

Stance on Health and Wellness

  1. Does not believe in free universal healthcare

  2. Wants to make healthcare more affordable by providing more options, paying for long-term care, and taking on big pharmaceutical companies

  3. Wants to extend critical access hospitals in rural areas

  4. Believes in the Comprehensive Immigration Reform to allow foreign Doctors to stay and serve in rural areas

  5. Believes in investing in CDC

Stance on Marijuana

  1. Supports legalizing marijuana

  2. Wants to focus on rehabilitation for opioid users with drug courts and Clemency Boards

Stance on Minority Rights

  1. Wants to invest in impoverished communities

  2. Wants to help Section 8 applicants by creating incentives

Stance on Prison System

  1. Believes in the Sentencing Reform Act and the First Step Act

  2. Wants a “Second Step Act” to extend to the states

Stance on Voting Rights

  1. Wants to help those who were purged from voter rolls


Bernie Sanders

Photo by Gage Skidmore

Senator Sanders is a third-term U.S. Senator from Vermont. In the past, he was Mayor of Burlington, Vermont where he now lives. He was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1941 making him the oldest 2020 Democratic candidate at 78 years old.

He has the most delegates in the 2020 primaries, currently with 56, and takes first place. Here are some of the policies he is for and against as well as his beliefs which he shared during the last debate:

Stance on Education

  1. Believes in tuition-free public college with a Wallstreet speculation tax

  2. Wants to triple-fund low-income Title 1 Schools

  3. Against “zip code education

  4. Against teachers earning less than $60,000 a year

  5. Believes in debt forgiveness for doctors, nurses, and dentists practicing in underserved areas

Stance on Financial Affairs

  1. Wants to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour

  2. Supports grassroots movements

  3. Against giving tax-breaks to billionaires

Stance on Foreign Affairs

  1. Against authoritarianism

  2. Believes in protecting the security of Israel and supporting Palestine

  3. Would consider moving U.S. Embassy back to Tel Aviv

Stance on Gun Control

  1. Wants to expand on universal background checks and end “gun show loopholes

  2. Voted against Brady Bill in 1993 and voted for gun industry immunity in 2003 and 2005

Stance on Health and Wellness

  1. Believes in free universal healthcare by having employers pay a 7.5% payroll tax

  2. Proposed Medicare for all/single-payer system that drug and insurance companies cannot profit from

  3. Against having thousands of insurance plans

  4. Believes in international cooperation when dealing with infectious diseases

  5. Wants to expand on the World Health Organization and fund the CDC

  6. Believes in free high-quality childcare for every family

Stance on Marijuana

  1. Wants to legalize marijuana and release anyone who has been arrested for possession

  2. Wants to change the Control Substance Act to not place marijuana and heroin in the same category

  3. Wants to help Blacks and Latinos open businesses that distribute marijuana


Elizabeth Warren

Photo from United States Senate

Update: Senator Warren has officially dropped out of the 2020 presidential race.

Senator Warren has served as the U.S. Senator of Massachusetts since 2013. She was a former law school professor who taught across the country. She was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1949 and she is 70 years old.

She is currently fourth in the 2020 Democratic primaries with 8 delegates. The beliefs and policies she spoke about during the last debate are listed below:

Stance on Education

  1. Believes public dollars should stay in public schools

  2. Against high-stakes testing

  3. Wants to put $800 billion federal dollars into public schools

  4. Wants to invest in historically Black colleges

  5. Wants to cancel student loan debt

Stance on Financial Affairs

  1. Wants to tackle Wallstreet

  2. Against raising taxes for the middle class

  3. Wants a .2¢ wealth tax on the top 1% to pay for childcare,

Stance on Foreign Affairs

  1. Believes we need to let Israel and Palestine negotiate and it’s not for the U.S. to decide

Stance on Health and Wellness

Stance on Minority Rights

  1. Wants to build housing plans to address Redlining

Stance on Voting Rights

  1. Wants majority vote over the filibuster which rejects proposals on guns, oil, and immigration

Stance on War

  1. Wants to bring home combat troops from the Middle East

  2. Believes we need to provide humanitarian relief and work with allies without military intervention

And there you have it: a break-down of all that was shared during the 2020 Democratic debate (excluding the thoughts and opinions of Tulsi Gabbard who was not present and Tom Steyer who recently dropped out). If you stayed with me so far then get ready for a second break-down, this time on common political terms.

Primary Election Terms Explained

Super Tuesday” is a very important day because a lot of states have their primary elections on that day and, for the candidates, this means that most delegates are up for grabs.

Delegates are party representatives who cast the vote for their states chosen candidate (which is decided during the primary elections.) Each state has a specific amount of delegates with California having the most followed by Texas and New York.

While most states have primaries that allow registered voters to fill out ballots to vote, states like Iowa have caucuses. During a caucus, registered Democratic voters meet to discuss and select a candidate.

The primaries will wrap up in June of this year and in July a Democratic Convention will take place to determine who amongst the candidates will win the nomination.

Hopefully, all this makes sense and if not watch the video below for a quick summary of how primaries work. Lastly, go out and vote. It doesn’t matter who you vote for and why because, for me, it is enough to know that you have voted.



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