Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and former HUD Secretary Julian Castro saw voter interest spike after their performances at the first Democratic debate Wednesday.
Castro made waves as he went right after former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke on immigration while Gabbard made her anti-interventionist message a focal point of her debate responses.
Gabbard was the most searched candidate following the debate, The Hill reported.
Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran who hit out at American involvement in Afghanistan and called for an end to regime change wars, clearly made an impression despite finishing with the third-lowest amount of speaking time at the debate. Gabbard spoke for just over 6 minutes at the debate, which focused more heavily on New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke.
Castro searches spike by 2,400%:
Searches for Castro spiked by more than 2,400%, according to NBC News.
Castro focused much of his speaking time on immigration, hitting out at O’Rourke for supporting criminal penalties for undocumented border crossers.
Castro also made an emotional statement about the viral photo of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his 23-month old daughter, Valeria, who were found drowned in the Rio Grande.
“If I were president today, I would sign an executive order that would get rid of Trump’s zero tolerance policy, the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy and the metering policy. This metering policy is basically what prompted Óscar and Valeria to make that risky swim across the river,” Castro said.
“They have been playing games with people who are coming and trying to seek asylum at our ports of entry,” he added. “Óscar and Valeria went to a port of entry, and they were denied the ability to make an asylum claim, so they got frustrated and they tried to cross the river and they died because of that.”
