--- title: Did Cory Booker Side-Eye Beto O'Rourke at the 2020 Debate? description: When Beto O'Rourke responded to his a question at the 2020 Democratic debate in Spanish, Sen. Cory Booker hit him with a side-eye. canonical: https://time.com/5615259/cory-booker-side-eye-beto-orourke-2020-debate/ author: Rachel E. Greenspan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-06-27T02:05:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:59:19.613Z article:section: Politics og:title: Did Cory Booker Flash Beto O'Rourke Side-Eye After He Started Speaking Spanish at the Debate? og:description: Booker later also spoke Spanish on the debate stage og:url: https://time.com/5615259/cory-booker-side-eye-beto-orourke-2020-debate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1fec3f3781bc4aea/6989ff267cdbac2882d60e5c/cory-booker-beto-spanish-reaction.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: 2020 Debate: Cory Booker's Reaction to Beto O'Rourke Wins og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Did Cory Booker Flash Beto O'Rourke Side-Eye After He Started Speaking Spanish at the Debate? twitter:description: Booker later also spoke Spanish on the debate stage twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1fec3f3781bc4aea/6989ff267cdbac2882d60e5c/cory-booker-beto-spanish-reaction.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Did Cory Booker Flash Beto O'Rourke Side-Eye After He Started Speaking Spanish at the 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 [Rachel E. Greenspan](https://time.com/author/rachel-e-greenspan/) ## Rachel E. Greenspan Jun 27, 2019 2:05 AM UTC  (L-R) Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) take part in the first night of the Democratic presidential debate on June 26, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (L-R) Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) take part in the first night of the Democratic presidential debate on June 26, 2019 in Miami, Florida. Joe Raedle—Getty Images by [Rachel E. Greenspan](https://time.com/author/rachel-e-greenspan/) ## Rachel E. Greenspan Jun 27, 2019 2:05 AM UTC An early breakout moment from [Wednesday’s 2020 Democratic presidential debate](https://time.com/5608626/first-2020-democratic-debate-latest-news/) didn’t come from a [candidate’s](https://time.com/5607429/most-important-debates/) answer, but from a facial expression. When [Beto O’Rourke](https://time.com/5554385/texas-beto-orourke-portrait/), the former Congressman from Texas, responded to his first question in Spanish, [Sen. Cory Booker](https://time.com/longform/cory-booker-2020-presidential-campaign/) hit O’Rourke with what looked like some serious side-eye that quickly ignited the internet. > [](https://twitter.com/davidmackau/status/1144049634609946624) Twitter was so abuzz with commentary on Booker’s apparent reaction to O’Rourke that [_Queer Eye_‘s Jonathan Van Ness](https://time.com/5311959/jonathan-van-ness/) even got in on the action. > [](https://twitter.com/jvn/status/1144049613411930113) Some viewers of the debate took to Twitter to argue that Booker, who speaks Spanish himself, may have been a bit “jealous” of the opportunity to speak Spanish first on the debate stage. ([Booker has previously conducted Spanish interviews](https://www.univision.com/shows/despierta-america/en-espanol-cory-booker-habla-con-despierta-america-tras-anunciar-su-precandidatura-a-la-presidencia-de-eeuu-video) with Univision.) > [](https://twitter.com/Carrasquillo/status/1144053138363752448) Indeed, the New Jersey senator later briefly spoke Spanish as well during the debate — although not everyone on the Twitter was impressed. > [](https://twitter.com/sadydoyle/status/1144057437764444160) > [](https://twitter.com/livinlavidainla/status/1144059806682009600) > [](https://twitter.com/thiseddieortiz/status/1144057889918730240) Whatever his thought process may have been, Booker’s face immediately inspired myriad memes and jokes. > [](https://twitter.com/Yamiche/status/1144051655232622593) > [](https://twitter.com/theferocity/status/1144050399407747072) > [](https://twitter.com/natasharothwell/status/1144050168536260608) > [](https://twitter.com/CalebJHull/status/1144051123688542208) > [](https://twitter.com/CommissionerKY/status/1144051969759354885) Even fellow 2020 Democratic candidates Marianne Williamson and Andrew Yang got in on the social media attention paid to the Spanish spoken at the event, jokingly noting that they better brush up on the language before they hit the debate stage Thursday night. > [](https://twitter.com/marwilliamson/status/1144059925364125702) > [](https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/status/1144059222151323654) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5615259/cory-booker-side-eye-beto-orourke-2020-debate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5615259/cory-booker-side-eye-beto-orourke-2020-debate/"},"headline":"Did Cory Booker Flash Beto O'Rourke Side-Eye After He Started Speaking Spanish at the Debate?","datePublished":"2019-06-27T02:05:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:59:19.613Z","description":"Even a 'Queer Eye' cast member got in on the Twitter action","url":"https://time.com/5615259/cory-booker-side-eye-beto-orourke-2020-debate/","keywords":["2020 Election","Newsfeed","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1fec3f3781bc4aea/6989ff267cdbac2882d60e5c/cory-booker-beto-spanish-reaction.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rachel E. 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