--- title: Democratic Debate; Sanders and Clinton Court Black Voters description: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders took the extra effort Thursday at the Democratic debate to show minority voters that they care. canonical: https://time.com/4218826/democratic-debate-wisconsin-black-voters/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-12T05:57:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:41:09.781Z article:section: Politics og:title: Democratic Candidates Court Black Voters at Debate og:description: With the presidential primary moving to South Carolina, Democrats try to appeal to black voters. og:url: https://time.com/4218826/democratic-debate-wisconsin-black-voters/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf575cb8bc97f7b5/69887d68e20a87098fa8f860/timepol-democrat-debate-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-08.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL Bernie Sanders Hillary Clinton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Democratic Candidates Court Black Voters at Debate twitter:description: With the presidential primary moving to South Carolina, Democrats try to appeal to black voters. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf575cb8bc97f7b5/69887d68e20a87098fa8f860/timepol-democrat-debate-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-08.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Democratic Candidates Court Black Voters at Debate > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=447f4c36-490b-4156-9b31-b96a857f3ab8&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch the Democratic Debate in Under 4 Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): Watch the Democratic Debate in Under 4 Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/T29Nf2PQ.m3u8) (3:41)  _Published 2016-02-12. Watch the Democratic Debate in Under 4 Minutes_ by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Feb 12, 2016 5:57 AM UTC by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Feb 12, 2016 5:57 AM UTC With the Democratic presidential primary [moving into states with more black voters](http://time.com/4215908/south-carolina-primary-new-hampshire-results-donald-trump-bernie-sanders/), former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders took extra efforts at a debate Thursday to address them. The two candidates made sure to touch on the major issues, such as criminal justice reform and police violence. But they also worked to make their other answers more inclusive too as they looked ahead to the South Carolina primary. After a question from a Facebook user asked the candidates what they would do to address America’s high incarceration rate for black males, Sanders called mass jailing “one of the greatest tragedies in our country today” and called for “fundamental police reform.” “I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers,” he said. “What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable.” Clinton, meantime, argued that the videos of police violence were actually a step forward, since they allowed a longstanding problem to come into the daylight. “We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone,” she said. “So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society.” Sanders also expanded his [economic critique](http://time.com/4184050/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-campaign-finance/) to use more inclusive language. “African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well,” he said. “So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue.” The two candidates have been working hard to court African-American voters since the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary ended. On Thursday, Sanders [debuted a video](http://time.com/4218694/bernie-sanders-erica-garner-endorsement/) featuring an endorsement from the daughter of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who was killed in a chokehold by New York City police in 2014\. Clinton, meantime, [earned the endorsement](http://time.com/4217804/congressional-black-caucus-pac-hillary-clinton/) of the fundraising arm of the Congressional Black Caucus. ## Transcript The American people are tired of establishment politics. Tired of establishment economics, they want a political revolution. We need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Especially with healthcare This is not about math, this is about people's lives. Healthcare is a right of all people. Not a privilege and I will fight for that. The numbers don't add up and many people will actually be worst off than they are right now. One final thought Senator. My thought is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality folks We have the courage to take on the drug companies and have the courage to take on the insurance companies and the medical equipment suppliers. If we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. My price tag is about $ 100 billion. A year. Once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. Secretary Clinton, you are not in the White House yet. I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that have allowed profitable multi- national corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. We bailed them out, now it is their time to help the middle class. Let's not in any way imply here that either President Obama or myself would in any way not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street or drug companies or insurance companies or frankly the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. Let's not insult the intelligence Of the American people? People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it, they wanna throw money around. You know I am not asking people to support me because I'm a woman, I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified experienced and ready person to be the President and the Commander in Chief. We will end the absurdity of women today making $ 0. 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. As President, I will look very carefully about unintended consequences. I will do everything I can. To make certain the United States and our brave men and women in the military do not get bogged down in perpetual warfare in the middle east. Senator Obama, when he ran against me, was against the war in Iraq. And yet when he won, he turned to me, trusting my judgement, my experience, to become secretary of state. Secretary of state for four years? You've got a bit of experience. I would imagine. But judgement matters as well. I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy and we have yet to know who that is. Well it ain't Henry Kissinger, that's for sure. That's fine. Let's support. Port. What Secretary Kerry and the President are doing, but let's hope, that we can accelerate the cease fire. Because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can do destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the. Russians have not gone after ISIS or any of the other terrorist groups. It's easy to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. So we do as the United States have to support our friends, our allies in Europe. We have to stand with them. I very strongly disagree. Were those Republicans candidates who say you know what, we've gotta turn our backs. 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