As eight GOP presidential hopefuls ascended to the stage in Milwaukee Wednesday night for the first Republican presidential primary debate, Democrats pushed back on candidates’ stances on the climate and abortion.
Democratic lawmakers, party leaders and the incumbent president running for re-election himself took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to take their shots – or, in the case of one GOP candidate’s comment, offer praise.
On Tuesday, Biden-Harris 2024 campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond told reporters he didn’t expect the president to respond to any potential attacks during the debate.
But Wednesday afternoon in Lake Tahoe, Nev. – where the president is vacationing with his family for the week – President Joe Biden told reporters he was “going to try” to see the debate and “get as much as I can.”
And Biden’s first tweet on the GOP festivities came in the first hour of the debate on the topic of climate change.
After GOP presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy called the climate change agenda a “hoax,” Biden offered a short rebuttal.
“Climate change is real, by the way,” he wrote on X.
Last month while delivering remarks on climate change as a heat wave was scorching much of the U.S., Biden said he didn’t think “anybody can deny the impact of climate change anymore.” He then stopped and clarified: “I don’t know anybody who honestly believes climate change is not a serious problem.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., also hit back during the debate on the topic of the climate, saying “The petroleum industry owns them lock, stock and oil barrel,” in a tweet.
Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler also took to X during the climate section to point out the conversation on the topic was taking place in Milwaukee on a day the city’s health department issued a heat health warning.
On abortion – a topic Democrats frequently argue has helped them win elections on all levels since the overturning of Roe v. Wade last year – Democrats also took aim at some Republican candidates’ goals to ban the practice after 15 weeks at the national level.
It’s clear none of the MAGA extremists running for President will defend a woman’s right to choose,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., – whose reelection to the Senate in battleground Nevada in the November midterm was considered a key win for Democrats – tweeted. “Good luck telling Nevada women what we can and can’t do with our bodies and lives.”
Other prominent Democratic lawmakers such as former Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also took to social media to offer a counter message to the GOP debate.
However, there was one comment that drew Democratic praise. As candidates on Wednesday called for less government spending under Biden, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley argued the GOP is also responsible for what she considers over-spending.
Haley pointed to the $2.2 trillion dollar economic package former President Donald Trump signed into law at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to support businesses and rush resources to health care providers and took a shot at the former president, saying he added to the national debt.
Biden tweeted a video of Haley’s comment, writing in the caption “What she said.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., tweeted “Opps. Oops. Nikki Haley let the cat out of the bag! Trump and GOP added $7.8 trillion to the national debt.”
