Andrew Yang gave Tom Steyer an unexpected compliment on the Democratic debate stage

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

published 21 November 2019

The Democratic debate just got... nice?

Things were pretty tame as the fifth Democratic primary debate kicked off on Wednesday night, with candidates only jabbing each other slightly on wealth taxes and other platform differences. But when entrepreneur Andrew Yang got his first question of the night, he used it to give the contender standing next to him some genuine praise.

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While some candidates would likely go after Steyer for how his anti-corporate words seem at odds with his big-money spending, Yang, the next candidate to respond, took another approach. "I want to stick up for Tom," Yang said. "We have a broken campaign finance system, but Tom has been spending his own money fighting climate change, and you can't knock somebody for having money and spending it in the right way." Steyer then thanked Yang for the compliment, and Yang said "no problem," earning a big laugh from the crowd. Watch the surprisingly kind moment below. Kathryn Krawczyk

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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