It was always going to be difficult for any single candidate to “win” the first 2020 Democratic presidential primary debate. Everyone onstage was only going to get 10 minutes or less to pitch themselves, and all but one ― the relatively well-known Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren ― needed to spend much of that time introducing themselves and the most basic elements of their platforms to Democratic voters.

Of the 10 candidates onstage, six of them ― Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney ― are polling at 1% or even lower, and essentially had nothing to lose. Three others are on the fringe of the top tier: Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker. Warren stood alone in the top tier.

And compared to tomorrow night’s contest, where a showdown between Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Vice President Joe Biden is sure to dominate headlines, few of the candidates onstage had clashed in the past. There was some fear of cringe-worthy moments when little-known candidates would try to go viral, but instead, the biggest screw-up came from NBC’s sound technicians.

The result was a jumble of a debate that is unlikely to dramatically shake up a remarkably stable presidential race that has seen little polling movement since South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg surged into the top tier in March.

But we learned a few things from the two-hour showdown. Here are five takeaways from Wednesday night’s debate.

A struggling Castro stood out.

Castro, a candidate who has been mentioned as a future president since before he even entered the Obama administration in 2012, has struggled in the race so far. He raised less money in the first quarter than Marianne Williamson, a little-known spiritual guru. The 2018 breakout of O’Rourke meant Castro wasn’t even the only Texan in the race. He struggled to qualify for the first debates and was in danger of becoming an afterthought.

Of the lower-tier candidates, Castro ended up with the most speaking time, and he used it to reinforce ground he had begun to stake out in the race. He’s unveiled bold plans on immigration rights and criminal justice and aggressively pushed the other candidates to agree with his plan to decriminalize illegal entry into the United States. He misstepped slightly by repeatedly referring to it as “Section 1325” ― voters typically aren’t familiar with individual provisions of the U.S. code.

“We see all of this horrendous family separation. They use that law, Section 1325, to justify under the law separating little children from their families,” Castro said to a round of applause. “And so I want to challenge every single candidate on this stage to support the repeal of Section 1325.”

But his answer there, at another point when he talked about the importance of combining racial and economic justice, and a third moment when he nodded to the transgender community when answering a question about abortion rights all showed his ability to appeal to an activist class that has the power to shape the narrative of the campaign. Whether that translates to a broader increase in financial support or polling is yet to be seen. One potential early indicator? Google searches for his name spiked 2,400% during the debate.

There was little appetite to go after the race’s leaders.

In the opening moments of the debate, moderator Savannah Guthrie gave Booker and Klobuchar clear opportunities to go after Warren, asking them both about issues on which they’re in disagreement with the Massachusetts senator ― Klobuchar on health care, and Booker on naming specific companies to pursue antitrust actions against. Neither took the bait. That set the tone for a debate with relatively little sparring of any type, and almost no shots aimed at the leading candidates. Biden’s name was never mentioned and Sanders was brought up only a handful of times, even though Booker has criticized Biden and Delaney has slammed Sanders in the past.

This reflects an everlasting dynamic in presidential primary politics: Attacking an opponent with a large fan base is risky because the opposing candidate’s supporters will turn on you and likely write you off as a candidate. It’s possible candidates on Thursday night will be more willing to battle Sanders and Biden when they’re onstage ― but so far, there’s been little appetite among the lower-tier candidates to directly challenge the polling leaders.

Warren seemed to dominate the early moments of the debate, and the opening question about the economy set her up nicely to delve into some of her most populist messaging. She later faded into the background and ended up speaking less than both Booker and O’Rourke. As the leading candidate in the debate, her primary goal would be to avoid mistakes that might damage her standing, and she did that.