Updated at 9:58 p.m.
It's Night 1 of two of the July Democratic debates, airing on CNN from 8 to 10 p.m. ET. The first set of 10 candidates is making their case as to why they should be the next president of the United States.
Tuesday's lineup includes: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan and author Marianne Williamson.
Fact Check: O'Rourke Says Hate Crimes Have Been Rising In The U.S.
A recent report appears to back up former Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s claims that hate crimes have been on the rise over the last three years. The report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism shows a national rise in hate crimes in 2018 -- and it found that many extremist homicides were carried out by the far right.
Hate crimes rose 9 percent to a decade high of 2,009 in 30 U.S. cities surveyed by the CSHE, which is based at the California State University at Santa Barbara.
The report also cites research at the University of North Texas that found a 226% increase in reported hate crimes in counties that hosted a campaign rally for Donald Trump in 2016, as compared to similar counties that did not host Trump rallies.
Fact Check: Universal Background Checks May Not Reduce Gun Deaths
Researchers see evidence that states that have implemented universal background checks have seen drops in gun trafficking, but Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy, says, “we haven’t seen that that actually is reducing firearm related deaths.”
In 2018, Johns Hopkins University researchers studying urban areas found that universal background checks were actually associated with an increase in firearm homicides if the checks were not also accompanied by a permitting system for gun purchasers.
According to the Giffords Law Center, 12 states and the District of Columbia currently require universal background checks.
Lisa Hagen is a reporter with member station WABE in Atlanta and part of the Guns & America reporting collaborative.
— Lisa Hagen
Fact Check: Would Medicare For All Outlaw Private Insurance?
Tonight’s debate kicked off with a heated exchange over health care between more moderate candidates such as former Maryland Rep. John Delaney and progressive Sens. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Delaney said that the Medicare for All plan proposed by Sanders would make private insurance “illegal.” And he’s largely right. Medicare for All as written would ban any insurance that duplicates the government’s coverage as altered under this proposal. Because that coverage would be so sweeping, that would leave very little room for private insurance. The more moderate candidates argue this would be too disruptive to the legacy health care economy.
The way Medicare for All would push out much private insurance, by the way, sets Sanders’ plan apart from Medicare as it exists now. Many people enrolled in Medicare now have private insurance through either Medicare Advantage or what are called “Medigap” coverage plans.
Fact Check: How Many Americans Live Paycheck To Paycheck?
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said in his opening statement that half of Americans are “living paycheck to paycheck” as part of his broader economic message to redistribute wealth away from the top 1% of Americans. According to a May study released by NORC at the University of Chicago, an independent social research institution, that’s true.
According to the study, 51% of working adults say missing more than one paycheck would require tapping into savings to pay for basic necessities. That’s particularly true for Hispanic households, at 65%, and for households earning less than $30,000 annually — at 67%.
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