The final Democratic presidential debate of the year brought together seven 2020 candidates in California on Thursday for an at times heated argument over their qualifications, policy proposals and paths to the White House.

On the heels of Donald Trump’s impeachment, the debate, hosted by PBS NewsHour and Politico, opened with the historic events in Washington the day before but quickly pivoted to key issues for Democratic voters, such as social injustice and climate change. Facing repeated attacks was Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who has been rising in the polls in early primary states.

﻿With mere weeks to go before the first primary voters head to the polls, Thursday’s debate was more contentious than some of the previous match-ups. One of the fiercest jabs at Buttigieg came from the Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar, who questioned the 37-year-old’s level of experience in national politics. Klobuchar touted her own accomplishments in the Senate as well as those of other candidates to highlight Buttigieg’s relatively short career. Buttigieg responded by stressing his experience as a veteran of the war in Afghanistan and his ability to get elected as “a gay dude in Mike Pence’s Indiana”.

Key debate takeaways: Democrats spar over fundraising and race Read more

“I certainly respect your military experience,” Klobuchar countered. But she added: “That’s not what this is about.”

Buttigieg and the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren continued a weeks-long argument over fundraising tactics, with Warren criticizing Buttigieg for a recent fundraiser at a private Napa winery. “Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the United States,” Warren said.

Buttigieg replied by noting he was the least wealthy candidate on stage, telling Warren: “Senator, your net worth is 100 times mine.” The mayor said he was willing to receive contributions from anyone who wanted to defeat Trump.

Although Washington has been in the grips of impeachment for weeks, the topic only briefly came up in Thursday’s debate.

Play Video 1:40 Democratic debate: Warren blasts Buttigieg over 'wine cave' fundraiser – video

The former vice-president Joe Biden argued for the need to “restore the integrity of the office of the presidency”.

Warren and Sanders, who as senators will vote in Trump’s Senate trial, referred to the president’s 2016 promise to “drain the swamp”, arguing Trump instead had furthered the interests of the wealthy and well-connected. Trump was “the most corrupt president in living history”, Warren said.

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang countered that Democrats should stop “being obsessed over impeachment, which, unfortunately, strikes many Americans like a ballgame where you know what the score is going to be, and actually start digging in and solving the problems that got Donald Trump elected in the first place”.

Throughout the night, Warren stressed the key argument of her campaign: that the success of the US economy is not being shared with everyone and that corruption is hurting everyday Americans.

Asked how she would answer economists who say her plans would stifle growth and economic investment, she swiftly responded: “Oh, they’re just wrong!”

Sanders briefly made news, revealing that he would not be voting for the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, which the House of Representatives had passed earlier on Thursday. Sanders, who has been skeptical of trade agreements in the past, acknowledged that the deal was a “modest improvement” over Nafta but argued it did not address key issues such as outsourcing.

The candidates agreed on the need for bold and urgent action to combat the climate crisis, reflecting Democrats’ overwhelming recognition of global heating as an imminent threat. “The issue is whether we save the planet for our children and grandchildren,” Sanders said.

Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmental activist, argued that Buttigieg had failed to make the climate crisis a priority. The Indiana mayor responded that he lives near a river in South Bend that has flooded and he understands the urgency.

In a series of exchanges on foreign policy, the conversation turned to China, the Middle East, the war in Afghanistan and Trump’s incoherent approach to international affairs, with the candidates vowing to bring stability and a focus on human rights back to US diplomacy.

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Bernie Sanders called the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is seeking re-election while under indictment, a “racist” and argued US policy “can’t just be pro-Israel. We must be pro-Palestinian as well.”

Thursday’s debate was the first in California, which has grown in importance this election cycle. But it did not reflect the diversity of the state’s electorate. There were no black or Latino candidates among the nearly all-white lineup debating at Loyola Marymount University. Senator Cory Booker and the former housing secretary Julián Castro both failed to qualify and Senator Kamala Harris recently ended her campaign.

Andrew Yang said it was “both an honor and a disappointment to be the only candidate of color on the stage”.

He later told reporters some voters were probably surprised to see him on the stage: “If you’re a casual observer, you’re like, wow, Asian guy’s still there?”

Among the most piercing questions of the evening was one for Klobuchar, who was asked what she tells white Americans who are uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a racial minority.

“I’d say: this is America,” Klobuchar responded, vowing to combat voter suppression and gerrymandering efforts.

When Biden was asked directly about whether he supported reparations, he responded with a long speech about immigrants but didn’t directly answer the question. Buttigieg said he supported proposed legislation to study reparations.

﻿Thursday’s debate came just two months before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary. In recent weeks, polls across the country suggest four frontrunners have emerged from the wide Democratic field.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Andrew Yang, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar and Tom Steyer participate in the debate on Thursday. Photograph: Frederic J Brown/AFP via Getty Images

The debate’s location was a reflection of California’s growing importance in the primary race. Its vote will take place in March 2020 and could play a critical role in selecting the nominee.Biden remains a frontrunner nationally but is closely trailed by Sanders and Warren, with Buttigieg generally fourth in the race.

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To qualify for the Los Angeles debate, the Democratic National Committee required candidates to hit at least 4% in four national polls or at least 6% in two early-state polls in the weeks leading up to the debate . Several candidates, including the US congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and the author Marianne Williamson, failed to meet that bar. Also missing from the event was Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former New York City mayor who made a surprise entrance into the race last month and has poured an estimated $13.5m into TV ads in California.

Steyer, whose campaign still lags behind his competitors despite spending heavily on TV ads, may not have achieved the night’s breakout performance but appeared unfazed when asked about it in the spin room afterwards.

“Look, my attitude about all these debates is simply: my job in this campaign is simply to tell Americans what I stand for, why I’m running and who I am,” he said. “Every time I talk, that’s all I’m trying to do.”

Steyer said he was not concerned that Andrew Yang, also a lesser-known candidate, had received more positive reactions from the debate crowd.

“He’s funny. I enjoyed him,” Steyer said.﻿