Democrats are pushing each other further left in the debates, but a few candidates want to slow it down

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Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and former Rep. John Delaney.

• Democratic presidential candidates pushed the 2020 field further to the left on a number of key issues during the first primary debate Wednesday night.
• The massive roster of Democratic candidates features some of the most liberal politicians in decades.
• A few candidates, however, have attempted to rein in the increasingly left-leaning field.
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President Donald Trump and many Republicans have been admonished by Democrats, fact checkers, and pundits for hyperbolic rhetoric on key issues like abortion and illegal immigration. Trump routinely takes to Twitter and declares during political rallies that Democrats want "open borders" and unrestricted access to abortion at all times.

But the first Democratic primary debate of the 2020 election cycle featured just that: candidates vowing to decriminalize unlawful border crossings and refusing to name a single limitation they would put on abortion.

Read more: Julián Castro managed to break from the pack and dominate the stage at the first 2020 Democratic debate

"I would make certain that every woman has access to the full range of reproductive health care services, and that includes birth control, it includes abortion, it includes everything for a woman," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts when asked point blank whether she would "put limits on - any limits on abortion" by NBC News moderator Lester Holt.

A recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found that very few Americans, including pro-choice Democrats, supporter unrestricted abortion access. While most Americans want the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade to be upheld, only 21% favor expanding abortion to be permitted under any circumstance.

Warren took other far-left healthcare stances as well. When moderators asked for a show of hands for who would eliminate the entire private health insurance industry, Warren volunteered.

Former Rep. John Delaney of Maryland, who has been running for president since mid-2017, pushed back on the idea of eliminating an entire industry, noting "100 million Americans say they like their private health insurance."

"I mean, I think we should be the party that keeps what's working and fixes what's broken," he said. I mean, doesn't that make sense? I mean, we should give everyone in this country health care as a basic human right for free, full stop."

"But we should also give them the option to buy private insurance," Delaney added. "Why do we have to stand for taking away something from people?"

Decriminalizing border crossings

On immigration, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro challenged the rest of the candidates to commit to repealing Sec. 1325 of the US Code, which makes it a criminal offense for migrants improperly entering the United States.

When former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke tried to pivot to just addressing asylum seekers, Castro snapped at the former Senate candidate and reiterated his demand to allow unrestricted border crossings, with the exception of smugglers, human traffickers, and the like.

"I think that you should do your homework on this issue," Castro told O'Rourke. "If you did your homework on this issue, you would know that we should repeal this section."

Read more: Julián Castro is running for president in 2020. Here's everything we know about the candidate and how he stacks up against the competition.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota tried to distance herself from Castro's position, but added she would be "happy to look at his proposal."

"But I do think you want to make sure that you have provisions in place that allow you to go after traffickers and allow you to go after people who are violating the law," she said.

Thursday night's debate will feature 10 more candidates, including Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who has delivered impassioned speeches about advancing socialism, as well as several others on the left wing of the Democratic Party.

But the second debate lineup also features a few moderates in former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and former Vice President Joe Biden. Whether they break from the pack is could shape the tone of the debate.