The candidates gathered in Houston, Texas, for the latest Democratic debate represented the top tier of the large field campaigning for the party’s 2020 nomination. But how did each of them fare during a night of policy cut and thrust, some mutual admiration and also some caustic attacks – on each other and on Donald Trump.

Here is a rundown of each debater’s performance:

Senator Amy Klobuchar

In a phrase: crack a joke and tack to the middle

As a successful Democratic politician in a state that almost fell to Donald Trump in 2016, Klobuchar knows how to speak to the centrist voter, and that instinct was on display: “If you feel stuck in the middle of the extremes in our politics,” she said, “you’ve got a home with me.”

She deftly handled a question about 12 people killed by police while she was the Minneapolis county prosecutor by flatly stating “that’s not my record.” She also articulated a gun policy – universal background checks, closing the gun show loophole, stopping domestic abusers from buying guns, and voluntary buyback program – that could appeal on both sides of the aisle.

“We can’t wait till one of us gets in the White House,” she said. “We have to pass those bills right now.”

Senator Cory Booker

In a phrase: courageous empathy

In his opening remarks, Booker set the bar high for the country: “That’s the story of America. At our best we unify, we find common cause and common purpose.” He continuously appealed to the uplifting ideal and said he would establish an office in the White House “to deal with the problem of white supremacy and hate crimes.”

He diagnosed a “crisis of empathy in our nation” when it takes a mass shooting in someone’s backyard, for example, for them to activate on the gun control issue. “We get this done by having a more courageous empathy,” he said.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg

In a phrase: on the money

The young mayor (he’s 37) began with eloquence – “We keep sending politicians to Washington to fight for us, but they seem more interested in the part about fighting than the part about us” – and didn’t lose the script all night. The problem with Medicare for All, he said, was it “doesn’t trust the American people”, calling for “Medicare for all who want it.” Addressing the legacy of slavery, he delivered a brief disquisition on “The generational theft from the descendants of slaves [which] basically puts us in two different countries.” He called for a Marshall-plan style “Douglass plan” that redresses that historic injustice. He also spoke a little Spanish.

Senator Bernie Sanders

In a phrase: Bernie gonna Bernie

The senator made his pitch for Medicare for All the center of his evening, and got his “I wrote the damn bill!” line in. He had surprisingly little time to go after the oligarchy, but he got in this lick: “We must and will defeat Trump, the most dangerous president in the history of this country. But we must do more. This country is moving into an oligarchic form of society. As president I am prepared to take them on.”

He was the first to refer to “the catastrophic crisis of climate change”. He also sounded to be working a bit uphill against a bit of hoarseness, though his raspy throat ultimately succumbed to his will to be heard.

Former vice-president Joe Biden

In a phrase: a bit scattershot

Biden seemed to have a good portion of the crowd behind him, and he had some successful tangles with his opponents, at one point quipping to Sanders, “Let me tell you something, for a socialist, you got a lot more confidence in corporate America than I do.” But he also seemed to grow confused at times, mistakenly referring to Sanders as the president, botching the name of the Moms Demand Action gun safety group and saying non-violent offenders shouldn’t be in prison when he (apparently, aides later said) meant non-violent drug offenders.

He also advised, “Make sure you have a record player on at night.” And though record players are newly hip with some sections of the younger voting public, it is probably unlikely Biden knew that.

Senator Elizabeth Warren

In a phrase: down cold

Warren said her lifelong dream was to be a public school teacher, which was also her first job, and she spoke like it, continually interweaving policy prescriptions with tidbits from her personal story – part-time waitress, special needs teacher, law school, single mom.

“The paths to America’s middle class have gotten a lot smaller and a lot narrower,” she said. “I know what’s broken, I know how to fix it, and I’m going to lead the fight to get it done.”

On Afghanistan: “We’re not going to bomb our way to a solution.”

On gun legislation: “The answer is corruption, pure and simple. We have a Congress that is beholden to the gun industry.”

On the climate crisis: “As long as Washington is paying more attention to money than it is to our future, we can’t make the changes we need to make.”

Senator Kamala Harris

In a phrase: attack Trump

The California senator has scored before with a debate attack, and she did it again on Thursday, although this time she repeatedly directed fire not at Biden but at Trump. When the conversation was about healthcare, she pointed out Trump had been trying to eviscerate the Affordable Care Act. In her introductory remarks she addressed Trump directly: “You’ve spent the last two and a half years, full time, trying to sow hate and division among us, and that is why we’ve got nothing done.

“And now President Trump, you can go back to watching Fox News.”

One prewritten line she launched at Bidenlanded awkwardly: “I would say hey Joe, instead of saying no, let’s say yes we can.” She laughed. But no one else did.

Andrew Yang

In a phrase: take my money

Yang had promised to make history Thursday night, and he did it – kind of? – by using his opening remarks to announce a raffle on his web site in which 10 lucky families would get $1,000 a month for a year. Yang is campaigning for universal basic income, so the giveaway wasn’t as totally out of left field – or like, as bribe-y – as it might seem. But did he win converts? He was upbeat and cracked jokes that did not always land, such as when during a health care discussion he said, “I’m Asian, so I know a lot of doctors.”

Former congressman Beto O’Rourke

In a phrase: hell yes

O’Rourke, whose hometown of El Paso, Texas, suffered a mass shooting that killed 22 people at a Walmart last month, did not shy away from a direct question about whether he would confiscate assault rifles. “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47,” he said, which according to conventional American political wisdom used to mean political death, but the reaction in the hall didn’t sound that way.

He also said, “We have a white supremacist in the White House, and he poses a mortal threat to people of color all across this country.” He also spoke some Spanish. So in terms of telling it like it is, as far as progressive Democrats are concerned – O’Rourke delivered.

Former secretary Julián Castro

In a phrase: coming for Joe

Castro delivered what might be the single most memorable moment from the debate, in which he accused Biden of having forgotten what the former vice-president had said minutes earlier, in a point about whether families would have to opt into his health care plan.

“Are you forgetting what you said two minutes ago?” Castro asked Biden. “I can’t believe you’re forgetting what you said two minutes ago!”

The transcript seemed to vindicate Biden, and the moment bordered on ugly. But the question of whether Castro had succeeded in defining the frontrunner as, for lack of a better word, maybe senile, was an open one.