On October 13^th, the five Democratic presidential candidates debated for the first time in Las Vegas. These candidates include former Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee, the former governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley, former senator of Virginia, Jim Webb, former governor of Vermont, Bernie Sanders, and former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who stood at the center of the stage.

Throughout the evening, discussion topics ranged from gun control and NSA leaker Edward Snowden to the federal investigation of Clinton’s emails that supposedly disclosed classified information during her time as Secretary of State. Sanders, who captured the attention of young voters due to his distrust of big business and its ties to government, was not a clear winner or loser on Tuesday. Sanders attempted to attract minority voters, which is one his weaker areas, but was not completely successful. However, his distrust of Wall Street, charismatic speeches, and views on income inequality are appealing to potential voters.

As the overall winner, Clinton proved why she is the front-runner for the Democratic Party. She displayed firm sound judgement on controversial issues such as gun control and used this against Bernie Sanders who many believe is too lax about gun control. Throughout the night, she had strong statements such as, “I’m a progressive. But I’m a progressive that likes to get things done” and other funny comments that received applause from the crowd. Somehow, she managed to avoid scrutiny about her controversial emails and rationalized her vote in favor of the Iraq war by claiming that Obama still asked her to be Secretary of State.

Of all the topics that needed to be discussed, the candidates failed to mention any solutions for the federal debt. However, the candidates all focused on aspirations such as free college and free Medicare. CNN Politics reported that the clear losers of the night were Vice President Joe Biden because he has still not decided if he wants to run and Former Virginia Senator Jim Webb partially due to his stutter when naming his five daughters at the beginning of the debate. Along with Biden and Webb, Former Senator and Governor Lincoln Chafee failed because he described his set of political views as a “block of granite” despite his past as a Republican and an Independent. While the others had poor overall performance, Martin O’Malley had solid talking points and clashed with Sanders when it came to gun rights. However, O’Malley didn’t have any bold statements like Sanders and Clinton. After this sneak peek into what the 2016 elections have in store, it will be interesting to see who the final candidate from the Democratic Party will be.