--- title: Democratic Debate: Hillary Clinton is Late To The Stage description: The moderators at the Democratic debate didn't wait for Hillary Clinton to return from backstage after the first commercial break. canonical: https://time.com/4156185/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-late/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-20T02:53:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:47.598Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton Was Late To The Stage Again At The Democratic Debate og:description: "Sorry." og:url: https://time.com/4156185/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-late/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt097e4f8ce1cb34a2/6988763b196cf4403e0398eb/clinton-break-return.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Clinton walks to her podium between rivals Sanders and O'Malley after she failed to return from a break in time for the resumption of the Democratic presidential candidates debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton Was Late To The Stage Again At The Democratic Debate twitter:description: "Sorry." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt097e4f8ce1cb34a2/6988763b196cf4403e0398eb/clinton-break-return.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton Takes A Break, Comes Late to Debate Stage > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### 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 [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 20, 2015 2:53 AM UTC  Hillary Clinton walks to her empty podium between rivals U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and former Govenor Martin O'Malley after she failed to return from a break in time for the resumption of the Democratic presidential candidates debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire Dec. 19, 2015. Hillary Clinton walks to her empty podium between rivals U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and former Govenor Martin O'Malley after she failed to return from a break in time for the resumption of the Democratic presidential candidates debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire Dec. 19, 2015. Brian Snyder—Reuters  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 20, 2015 2:53 AM UTC The moderators at the Democratic debate didn’t wait for Hillary Clinton to return from backstage after the first commercial break. Her center stage podium remained empty while the ABC moderators began asking Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders about economic inequality. Several seconds after the broadcast began again, Clinton strode out onto the stage. Walking calmly to her podium, she leaned in and said, “Sorry,” to laughter and cheers from the audience. [Read More: Democrats Clash at Final Debate of 2015](http://time.com/4155432/democratic-debate-third-data-breach/) This isn’t the first time the former Secretary of State has been fashionably late to the stage after a break at a debate. During the first Democratic debate in Las Vegas in October, Clinton joked to moderator Anderson Cooper after a bathroom break, “You know, it does take me a little longer. 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