Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) appeared to have a tense exchange onstage at the end of the Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday night.
Sanders was seen in video reaching out his hand to Warren as she approached him onstage after the debate, though the pair did not end up shaking hands.
Warren, who held her hands together during most of the interaction, appeared to be making a point when she approached her fellow progressive Democratic presidential hopeful. The conversation ended seconds later, with Sanders putting up his hands and walking away.
CNN later replayed the moment, with political commentator and Democratic strategist David Axelrod remarking, “This is not warm and cuddly.”
Businessman and Democratic candidate Tom Steyer appeared to be got caught in the middle of the discussion as he waited to shake Sanders’s hand. Steyer later told MSNBC that he did not hear what the two senators were saying.
“All I was trying to say was to both Sen. Warren and Sen. Sanders, ‘It was great to see you. Thank you for participating in this,'” Steyer told MSNBC. “And whatever they were going on between each other, I was trying to get out of the way as fast as possible.”
Warren and Sanders have been embroiled in a feud since CNN reported that Sanders told Warren in 2018 that he did not think a woman could become president.
The Vermont progressive denied that claim during the debate, saying, “Anyone who knows me knows that it is incomprehensible that I do not think a woman could be president of the United States.”
Warren later said, “Bernie is my friend, and I’m not here to fight with Bernie.”
The pair also sparred after the Massachusetts senator said no one on the stage had defeated an incumbent Republican in the last 30 years but her. Sanders pointed out that he did in 1990, which Warren quickly retorted was 30 years ago.