Democratic debate second night: Which candidates are appearing tonight in Miami?

Front-runners Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders take to the stage alongside key challengers like Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris after Elizabeth Warren impresses on first evening of spirited clashes

The Democratic Party debates resume in Miami, Florida, on Thursday evening for a second instalment, as the opposition begins the process of whittling down its long list of contenders in search of the candidate best placed to challenge Donald Trump for the presidency in 2020.

This second serving features the two front-runners in the polls: Barack Obama‘s former vice-president Joe Biden and the maverick senator for Vermont, Bernie Sanders, who ran Hillary Clinton close in 2016.

Other popular would-be nominees being given their turn this time out at the city's Adrienne Arsht Center are progressive rising star Pete Buttigieg - the openly gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana – and senators Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand, both of whom have been outspoken critics of the president.

Mr Trump made his opinion on Wednesday’s broadcast clear, denouncing it as “BORING!” on Twitter live from Air Force One as he jetted out to attend the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. Or, “to save the Free World”, as he put it.

The commander-in-chief also gloated over technical glitches suffered by broadcasters NBC and MSNBC, posting a video of the latter’s power outage to the humiliation of anchor Chuck Todd, who had given over his previous weekend to interviewing the president at length.

What happened in the first debate?

By most accounts, Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren was the clear winner on Wednesday, speaking with passion and clarity about healthcare and Republican attempts to roll back the historic Roe vs Wade ruling on abortion.

“Who is this economy really working for?” she asked. “It’s doing great for a thinner and thinner slice at the top. It’s doing great for giant drug companies. It’s just not doing great for people who are trying to get a prescription filled.”

New Jersey senator Cory Booker also spoke impressively on the need to bring an end to violent crime in major cities, for tighter gun control and support for America’s trans community.

Tim Ryan, a congressman from Ohio, expressed a great deal more compassion for migrants at the US-Mexico border than the president has done, saying that the terrorist inmates of Guantanamo Bay have been treated more humanely than those children held in detention centres like the one at Cliff, Texas, which inspired uproar over the weekend after news of its unsanitary living conditions were leaked by a team of inspecting lawyers.

The governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, made a timely appeal to put climate change at the centre of the political agenda in 2020 and said “the biggest threat to the United States is Donald Trump” over his insistence that global warming is a “hoax”.

The most searched for candidates on Google before and after the first debate (Statista/The Independent)

Among those who came off less well were Texan Beto O’Rourke, considered a star for his bold run against Ted Cruz for the state senate in last November’s midterms but who struggled to assert himself on proceedings and was quickly mocked by congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert for his attempt to impress by speaking Spanish.

Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard was also criticised for turning a question about closing the gender pay gap into a platform from which to boast about her own military service in the War on Terror, risking becoming known as the Danny Chung of the primaries after the Veep character notorious for doing the same.

For a more extensive overview, here’s Chris Stevenson’s assessment of Wednesday’s winners and losers.

Who takes to the podium on Thursday?

Here's the line-up in full:

• Joe Biden – former vice president
• Bernie Sanders – Vermont senator
• Pete Buttigieg – Indiana mayor
• Kamala Harris – California senator
• Kirsten Gillibrand – New York senator
• Marianne Williamson – author
• Eric Swalwell – California congressman
• Andrew Yang – entrepreneur
• John Hickenlooper – former Colorado governor
• Michael Bennet – Colorado senator

How can I watch the action unfold?

Like the first, Thursday’s debate begins at 9pm EST (2am GMT) and is expected to run for two hours.

Both will be available to watch live on NBC News and MSNBC while The Independent will be covering the evening live on our site.