Booker, O’Rourke get most speaking time at first Democratic debate

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) talked more than any other Democrat on the debate stage Wednesday night, catching his stride after the first half-hour was dominated by top-tier candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

Booker spoke for a total of 10 minutes and 35 seconds during Wednesday’s debate, edging out former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), who spoke for 10 minutes and 15 seconds.

Warren spoke for more than five minutes of the first half-hour of the debate, but she slowed down as the night went on. Those five minutes represented more than half her total talk time of 9 minutes and 7 seconds, according to The Hill’s stopwatch.

No candidate got to speak as long as the 11 minutes and 13 seconds that NBC devoted to advertising, a period that may have grown unintentionally after a technical snafu forced NBC’s Chuck Todd to throw to an unplanned break about an hour into the debate.

{mosads}During one of the longest segments of the debate, a more than 11-minute discussion about the intricacies of immigration policy, Booker and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro (D) spoke for a combined 5 1/2 minutes.

That segment of the debate kicked off with the longest answer of the evening, Castro’s 88-second explanation of his plan to reform the nation’s immigration system.

But Warren was silent during the immigration section, marking the moment when Booker pulled ahead in total screen time.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) spoke less than any other candidate on stage, even though MSNBC host Rachel Maddow gave him the chance to weigh in on his signature issue, the threat climate change poses to the planet. Inslee spoke for only 4 minutes and 41 seconds, 40 seconds fewer than New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D), who frequently tried to shout over other candidates.

“There’s nothing worse than not being heard,” said Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) during his closing statement. Ryan spoke for 6 minutes and 54 seconds.

Inslee received just five questions during the debate, and he did not get the opportunity to follow-up to any other questions. De Blasio, Ryan, former Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) also received only five questions, but each of those candidates had the chance to respond to follow-up questions from the NBC moderators.

Those moderators directed more questions at Booker, 10, than any other candidate. Booker was also given the opportunity for three 30-second follow-ups. Warren and O’Rourke each received eight questions, while Klobuchar received seven. Castro and O’Rourke, fellow Texans who sparred over immigration policy, received four follow-ups each.

De Blasio was the first candidate to launch an attack on the rest of the field, and the first candidate to try to cut off a fellow Democrat, O’Rourke.