--- title: Democratic Debate: Donald Trump Gained Most on Twitter description: The presidential candidate who won the most followers during the Democratic debate wasn't even there. canonical: https://time.com/4072688/democratic-debate-twitter-donald-trump/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-14T04:25:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:47:00.806Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here's Who Won Twitter During the Democratic Debate og:description: Despite not being on stage. og:url: https://time.com/4072688/democratic-debate-twitter-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1658752c64203dce/6988682bbc6cfc25f73d9e68/04976752.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4096 og:image:height: 2304 og:image:alt: US Democratic Presidential debate at Wynn Las Vegas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's Who Won Twitter During the Democratic Debate twitter:description: Despite not being on stage. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1658752c64203dce/6988682bbc6cfc25f73d9e68/04976752.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Won Twitter During the Democratic Debate > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 14, 2015 4:25 AM UTC  Jim Webb, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Martin O'Malley and Lincoln Chafee pose on stage prior to the start of the Democratic debate at Wynn Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Oct. 13, 2015. Jim Webb, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Martin O'Malley and Lincoln Chafee pose on stage prior to the start of the Democratic debate at Wynn Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Oct. 13, 2015. Mike Nelson—EPA by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 14, 2015 4:25 AM UTC While political watchers were tuned in to the Democratic Debate on CNN, folks tuning in on Twitter found Donald Trump a bit more interesting than the five candidates who took the state at the Wynn Las Vegas Resort. According to data compiled by Voactiv, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gained about 60,000 followers halfway through the Tuesday night debate. The leading GOP candidate was firing off shots throughout the whole event, including this zinger: > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/654114913888174081) According to a TIME tally of Twitter followers before and after the debate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gained about 15,000 followers during her dominating performance. The Twitterverse seemed to have been feeling the Bern too, despite Sanders’ shaky performance, the Vermont senator raked in nearly 50,000 between his [two](https://twitter.com/sensanders) [accounts](https://twitter.com/berniesanders?lang=en). Underdogs Martin O’Malley, Lincoln Chafee, and Jim Webb fought for attention all night on the debate stage, but few were able to gain a substantial number of new Twitter fans in the process. The former Maryland governor, former Rhode Island governor and former Virginia Senator earned 6,600, 1,600, and 3,300 followers, respectively. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4072688/democratic-debate-twitter-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4072688/democratic-debate-twitter-donald-trump/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Won Twitter During the Democratic Debate","datePublished":"2015-10-14T04:25:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:47:00.806Z","description":"Despite not being on stage","url":"https://time.com/4072688/democratic-debate-twitter-donald-trump/","keywords":["Debates","Hillary Clinton","democrats","2016 Election","Bernie Sanders","Donald Trump","Martin O'malley","Lincoln Chafee","Jim Webb"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1658752c64203dce/6988682bbc6cfc25f73d9e68/04976752.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1658752c64203dce/6988682bbc6cfc25f73d9e68/04976752.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US Democratic Presidential debate at Wynn Las Vegas","caption":"US Democratic Presidential debate at Wynn Las Vegas","creditText":"Mike Nelson—EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/debates/","name":"Debates"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4072688/democratic-debate-twitter-donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump Won Twitter During the Democratic Debate"}}]}] ```