Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took issue with the moderators of Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate, calling their failure to ask the candidates a single question about the climate crisis "horrifying."

Not a single climate change question. Horrifying. — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 26, 2020

Tuesday's debate in Charleston, South Carolina was the 10th time Democratic hopefuls faced off. It was moderated by CBS's Gayle King, Margaret Brennan, Major Garrett, and Bill Whitaker, and could have been an opportunity for the seven candidates on stage—frontrunner Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, and Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren—to address their plans for tackling the planetary emergency.

It wasn't.

Climate action advocates joined Ocasio-Cortez, a Sanders campaign surrogate, in criticizing the moderators' failure to ask about the crisis.

We're used to waiting until the tail end of each debate to hear the moderators bring up the climate crisis.



But it's honestly shocking that @CBS, in the final #DemDebate before Supert Tuesday, didn’t ask a single question about the defining issue of our lives. — Sunrise Movement (@sunrisemvmt) February 26, 2020 CBS flunked this debate by skipping the climate crisis. Media, do better. — Jamal Raad (@jamalraad) February 26, 2020 Instead of sharing with voters how presidential candidates plan to take action on climate change, @CBSNews asked the candidates to name the “biggest misconception” about them. @amyklobuchar said she really is fun. @JoeBiden apparently has more hair than he thinks he does.



4/5 — Nikhil Swaminathan (@sw4mi) February 26, 2020

In "more than two hours of debate—in a city that is already facing the consequences of the crisis—not a single question was asked on climate change. This is unacceptable," Sierra Club said Tuesday night. "The voters have demanded action, and the public deserves plans."

"We cannot afford four more years of Trump's deadly and dangerous inaction while communities like Charleston are experiencing what happens when the president ignores climate change," the environmental group continued. "Every Democratic debate must demand answers on how the candidates will address the climate crisis."