She The People forum: What the candidates said

Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro, speaks during the presidential candidate forum sponsored by She the People at Texas Southern University Wednesday, April 25, 2019. Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro, speaks during the presidential candidate forum sponsored by She the People at Texas Southern University Wednesday, April 25, 2019. Photo: Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle Photo: Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 44 Caption Close She The People forum: What the candidates said 1 / 44 Back to Gallery

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, the first of eight Democratic presidential hopefuls appearing at a forum today at Houston’s Texas Southern University, reprised his pledge that he will choose a woman as his vice presidential running mate if he wins the nomination.

“I will have a woman running mate,” Booker said during a 10-minute question-and-answer session that kicked off what organizers are calling the first-ever presidential forum focused on women of color.

Booker also denounced president Donald Trump for rhetoric that Booker and others have blamed for escalating levels of racially motivated violence in the U.S.

Booker took it a step further, saying Trump was “trafficking in Islamophobia” with his recent criticism of Muslim Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota.

“It’s not enough to say I’m not a racist,” Booker said. “We must all be anti-racists.”

For subscribers: Democrats look to maintain Texas momentum despite challenges

Booker also pledged that as president he would push to double the earned income tax credit to lighten the tax burden on 150 million middle-class Americans.

The candidates participating in the forum included former El Paso Congressman Beto O’Rourke; former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro; U.S. Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; and U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii.

For subscribers: Beto O’Rourke and Bernie Sanders vie with each other for money, younger voters, and staffers

Julian Castro

Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Castro, the second speaker, promised to address a number of social inequalities if he is elected president, and called for raising the minimum wage and universal health care. Earlier this month, Castro called for more than doubling the minimum wage, from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour, as have several other Democratic candidates.

“I’ve called for giving people a first chance in life because too often we can’t even talk about a second chance in life,” Castro said. “People don’t even get a first chance.”

Castro received loud cheers several times, answering a question about income inequality in Spanish and pointing to the influence of his single mother and his grandmother.

“I am only here because of two very strong women of color,” Castro said. “I grew up seeing both the struggles and the promise of two strong women of color, and I have dedicated my time in public service to making sure that people just like my mother and my grandmother can do better in this country.”

Tulsi Gabbard

Hitting the same theme, Gabbard promised the audience that she would pick “service above self” if they choose her, blaming “self-serving politicians” and “greedy corporations” for a political system that leaves people behind.

Gabbard said she would repeal Trump’s ban on travel from several predominately Muslim countries. “All of us must stand up and condemn this hatred and bigotry and violence,” she said.

Kamala Harris

Harris spent much of her time on stage addressing criminal justice reform, calling for marijuana legalization and the end of the war on drugs.

Harris, who previously served as the attorney general of California and has received criticism for her role in incarcerating drug users, also said convicted felons should be allowed to vote and that she would use her pardon power to release nonviolent drug offenders from prison.

“We have to have the courage to recognize there are a lot of folks who are incarcerated that should not have been incarcerated,” Harris said.

Harris called for comprehensive immigration reform and said she would use executive authority within her first 100 days in office to address implement stricter gun regulations.

“We need a president of the United States who uses her bully pulpit in a way that understands that if we are going to be strong as a country, we must be committed to our stated values,” Harris said. “That’s part of what has given us strength on this globe and right now we are ceding our power when we have a president of the U.S. that uses his bully pulpit to divide and sow hate.”

Bernie Sanders

Sanders emphasized that many of other Democrats seeking the nomination are adopting policies that he set out in 2016.

“Many of the ideas that I brought forth four years ago are now widely accepted by the American people,” said Sanders, who again called for a $15 minimum wage, universal health care, free tuition at public colleges and universities and an end to discrimination.

Beto O’Rourke

Former El Paso congressman Beto O’Rourke called for an Equal Rights Amendment protecting women and people of color to be ratified into the U.S. Constitution.

“It’s not enough to be on the right side of the issue,” O’Rourke said. “We need to lay out a vision of where we need to get to on this issue.”

O’Rourke discussed immigration — something he’s made a central tenet of his campaign — saying he would not abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if he were elected, but the agency’s policies would change under his administration. Casting shade on the Obama administration, he pledged to end “internal roundups and deportations and enforcement” operations, such as the Secure Communities program blamed for deporting immigrants for minor crimes such as DWI. The program was expanded by former President Barack Obama.

O’Rourke spoke against the Trump Administration’s decision to include a question on the 2020 U.S. Census about respondents’ citizenship status.

“Here we are in the most diverse city in the United States of America, bar none,” he said. “It is hard to think of a community or a state that will be hit harder by this misinformed and maybe malicious decision than Texas.”

Amy Klobuchar

Klobuchar voiced greater support for a Medicare for All health care plan than she has in the past, but said the country first needs to build on the existing Affordable Care Act.

Klobuchar also said she would support comprehensive criminal justice reform, giving felons the right to vote and raising the minimum wage to $15.

She closed out her segment by saying she wants to ensure women and people of color have a greater role in politics through voting reforms.

“If you want a seat at the table, you can’t be on the menu, and you’ve got to be able to vote in this democracy,” Klobuchar said.

Elizabeth Warren

Warren closed out the forum, receiving a standing ovation after she outlined a plan to close the wage gap.

“Today, a minimum wage job will not keep a mama and a baby out of poverty,” Warren said. “That is wrong, it’s worth fighting for and it’s why we’re all going to stay in this.”

Earlier, Warren addressed high maternal mortality rates, the war on drugs and deaths from the opioid epidemic that kills 200 people a day.

“It’s like a plane crash, and it will happen again tomorrow, and the next day and the next day and the next day…” Warren said.

This is a developing story; check back for updates.

This report contains material from the Associated Press.