ATLANTA (AP) — The Latest on tonight’s Democratic presidential debate (all times local):
9:35 p.m.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker is disagreeing with the wealth tax proposed by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren as they join other Democratic presidential candidates for a debate Wednesday night.
Booker says Warren’s proposal “is cumbersome,” has failed in other countries and would stunt economic growth in blighted urban areas.
Warren has proposed raising taxes by 2 cents on income over $50 million to finance a host of programs including universal preschool and higher teacher pay.
Warren, who has come under attack recently for the proposal, called her policy “transformative.”
Booker is fighting to break out in the debate, hosted by MSNBC and The Washington Post, in part because he has not yet qualified, by fundraising and polling criteria, for the December debate.
9 p.m.
Pete Buttigieg’s dramatic rise in the Democratic race for president makes him a prime target at Wednesday night’s debate.
The candidates bunched at the front of the pack are seeking to distinguish themselves on the debate stage in Atlanta with just three months until 2020 presidential voting begins.
The 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has gained significant ground in recent months in Iowa, which holds the nation’s first caucuses on Feb. 3. But with top-tier status comes added scrutiny, as the other front-runners discovered in four previous debates throughout the summer and fall.