captioning sponsored by >> yang: good evening. i'm john yang. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight: only the third time in the nation's history. we brake down tonight's historic vote, what it mea and wha to expect as impeachment enters the new day. then on the ground of california, ahead of tomorrow's newshour democratic presidential debate where climate change is a top concern for golden stateemocrats. and stepping toward the future, medicine at the knowledge of current knowledge sparks hope for those paralyzed by spinal cord injuries. >> you get t trunk

that's standing. i know how to do that." >> yang: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. newshour has been ided by:bs ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> consumer cellular. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and theirti

sos to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving lives through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarth foundation. committed to building a more just, verdanrland peaceful more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station fr viewers like you. thank you. >> president trump has been impeached tonight making him just the third president in

history to receive that review. tonight the house of representatis approved two charges brought by the decrats, abuse of power and obstruction of congress. near party litanelies followed the day of long debates. our coverage begins with our correspondent lisa desjardins telling us how this momentous day unfolded. >> the house will be in order. >> reporter: perhaps it was the specr of history. >> tonight marks the sad day for americans. orter: or the high stakes involved. >> this president elected by the american people has violated his oath of office and violated the rule of law. >> the president is as we speak abusing his power and placing himself above the law. >> reporter: or perhaps a sense that the dye was already cast. >> since donald trump wasde electemocrats have been on a crusade to stop him reporte reporters weeks of fiery words

over hypothetical impeachment turned mber and serious when lawmakers faced the reality. >> i solemnly and sadly open the debate on thmee impea of the president of the united states. >> rr:eporspeaker nancy pelosi was a large broach of the house mace a symbol of the power of the speaker of the house as she chaed the president has undermined his office. >> if we do not act now we would be derelict in our it is tragic that the nspresident's reckless act make impeachment necessary. he gave us no choice. >> desjardins: democratsaid out their argument, that president trump abused his power, using his office to pressure ukrainian president vladimir zelensky into opening investigations that would help mr. trump politically. jim mcgovern of massachusetts. >> our inquiry is simply to answer the following question: did president trump and his top advisors corruptly withhold official government actions to obtain an improper advantage in the next election?

we now know, through the hard igativeur inve committees and because of the president's own admission, that the answer to that question is "yes." >> desjardins: and pramila jayapal of washington state:>> he president told us himself on national television exactly h whwanted from the phone call with president zelensky. lawn and said "i white house president zelensky to open an investigation into the bidens." he solicited feign interference before, he is doing t it now, and he will do iain. the president is the smong gun. >> desjardins: but republicans portrayed esident trump as the victim here, offering several counter-arguments, first assailing democrat evidence as incomplete. tom cole of oklahoma. c >> if leagues in the majority believe they have proven their case, let me be clear: they have not. the entire premise of these articles of impeachment rests oo a pause placukrainian security assistance.

a pause of 55 days. the majority has spun creative narratives as to the meaning and the motive of this pause, alleging the president demanded a "quid pro quo," but with no factual evidence to back it up. >> desjardins: argument two from republicans, that speaker pelosi and house democrats are motivated by politics, note. princi utah's chris stewart. >> this vote this day is abouton one thing anthing only-- they hate this president. ey hate those of us who voted for him. they tnk we're stupid. ey think we made a mistake. they think hillary clinton should be e president, and ey want to fix that. that's what this vote is aboutak they want toaway my vote and throw it in the trash. >>esjardins: and f's ross spano. >> the american people see through this sad charade for what it is: an attem to undo the 2016 election based on hearsay and opinion, not fact.

this is incredibly divisive and has lowered the bar for what future presidents will face. i strongly oppose the articles before us today and hope that we will finally move past this nightmare.es >>rdins: the rhythm of the day was partisan, but the tone was less caustic than recently, even as republicans repeated the president's bottom line. >> this impeachment is a total joke and a total sham. >> desjardins: and democrats repeated that, for them, this is about principle and protecting the future. >> to my friends on the other side of the aisle, i say this:t this is out making history. this is about holding a lawless president accountable in the way our framers intended. >> it doesn't really feel like we're being impeached. [laughter] the country's doing better than ever before. we did nothing wrong. >> reporter: but near the end

of the debate, closing speakers for each side threw more sparks. >> this impeachment asks whether we are still a republic of laws. as our founders intended. r whether we will accept that one person canbe above the law. >> thisresident today will be president tomorrow and he will be president when this impeachment is over. elections matter. voters matter. and in 11 months, the people's voice will be heard again.re >> reporter: han 10 hours after the first gavel, the house took the historic vot a first ticle of impeachment cusing the president of abuse of power. on this vote, the es are0. the nays are 197. present is 1. article i is adopted.

>> reporter: then the second charging mr. trump with obstructing congress.s >> on thivote, the ayes are 229. the nays ae 198. present is 1 article ii is adopted. >> reporter: and thereou have it, john, just moments ago those two historic votes saying the president should be impeached and removed from office. that is what house, the house os retatives has decided . those articles will be forwarded to the u.s. senate. we do not ye know when. vote.sa let me ask you about the republicans were together, there were no republican votes in favor of either article of impeachment. what about the democrats. >> reporter: that's right. there were some note worthy number one, that vote present, the number one vote that was actual see gabbered of hawaii.w there were democrats who voted no on both articles. ben andrew who represents basically southern new jersey

including at license particular city and coln peterson who represents western minnesota, both of them have trump districts and in fact ryngressman andrew is going to switch parties voon and become a republic. he spent the entire debate on the republican sidof the chamber. technically voted as a democrat but he voted witsh republic and we do expect that to be his new party soon. >> tulsi gabbard, did she explain why she voted present. reporter: i was in touch with her specks person and got a statement from them. it's an interesting statement and it is of some lene gth. writes that she feels that the presidens supporters are wrong to say that he did nothing ron. clearly diin he do somethat needed to be addressed. but on the other hand she writes at the president' opponents insist that if we do not impeach hi the can country wil collapse in dictatorship. she says that is also too

extreme. she says she voted present because instead, she wants toth censurpresident not remove him from office. she believes what's happening now is both parties sort f playing politics. she says she wants to heal the thvide not further the divide and she believes impeachment vote yes or no would obviously many dem will have a problem with this. some who i spoke to leaving the chamber were shaking their headb at her vot she has a significant explanation for why she made that deision. >> lisa this has been a long and moment tuesday day. you've seen every seconof it up there. literally a front row in the house gallery overlooking the house chamber. what was it like. give us a sense of what it was like to be in that chamber, what it was like to be on the hi today. >> reporter: this was a day like no other i've experienced capitol hill. for the bulk of the day, john, it reoally was s quiet and it almost semed anti-climatic. in fact it did seem anti-claw

matt partcular until the pas say hour and-a-half. that was the purse time we sawth -- first time we saw the majority of the house come listen to the final spekers for each side and not only the first time we also heard those speakers really kind of elevate their tone and sound like they were at an historic event. after that, once the voting happened, there was an incrible electricity in the room. i don't know if viewers could notice but they did smething unusual. instead of having the normal electronic vote, rs of congress had to go to the front to the well we call it to the dias and hold up their voting cards passing in redor green voting cards. scene, a hugowd, dozens ofamati members of congress all crowded together try get their votes in raising their hands green and red. all of them watching the vote board. it was something and there was a feeling of electricity and drama

that we had not felt previous in the day. >> lsa stay riht there. i want to bring in the rest of our marathon panel who has been here at the desk this very log day. newshour foreign affairspo corrent nick schifrin who has anchored. knee cause vice president of the national security program a third way which is a washington think tank. she's a former house intelligence subcommittee staff director when the democrats were iny.he major and michael aln, managing director at the advisory firm rdeacon global ategies. he was staff director of the house intelligence committee en the republicans wee majority. nick let me start with you. president of this paigno the rally. what more has he been saying as we've been talking. >> just to make the first point, it ibl remarwe are watching a president speak at he's getting impeached. had three main points which tie into what some of the republicans talking points were on the house floor tod. number one, he said they are

trying to impeach me from day one. that's somhing that we heard republicans talk about all day. he talked about the politics of this for a while. he called it a political suicide march.it he saiwas an internal mark of shame on the democrats and that tens of yib millions of vos next year will vote losi out of office. so this was going to be a political loser for the democrats. he spent a lot of time osn thi. he called this an illegal impeachment.democrats ar deep hatred and disdain for the american voters. he used the wortrying to nullify the ballot of tens of millions of patriotic americans. democrats do not believe you have a right to select your own epresident and john he d that as a segue to 2016. not only 2020 but 2016. of course he won michigan wherew tonight by 10,000 votes, 23 is% helped him get into office. so what a lot of trump allies out as bob costa pointed outng

earlier, president trump is worried about his name, right. his name has been so important to theusiness and his name will now always be associated with impnt. but too as we saw from the letter that he sent to speaker pelosi yesterday, the language here today, the language his allies have used, it is cleart the presids going to use impeachment not only tonight, not only yesterday in tha letter but going forward in this election year that is about to vestart. we've of course seen a president impeached and then run for re-election he is clearly deciding to embrace this idea this is a loser for the democrats and a winner for him. now an impeached president but now running for re-election and he's goingo have to campaign with this. how does he handle that? do the republicans e this as something they could use against the democrats. >> one i think the republicans are relieved that just about eight wes into this, we

haven't seen any more support go for impeachment than was at the very beginning of this. second, this is going to test sort of president trump's ability to sort of deny thes ruf political physics. 's always was one able to just sue an issue and turn it to his advantag here he has the most grave levee put upon hi bm almothe constitution and that's impeachment. can he turn this into a political winner. we've got about 11 months to see hohe does it. >> mieka how do the democrats handle it. >> they are calling out history making this a somber tune. erey are trying to win swing voters. what you see in the poling on this that democrats have adg slighton the case they're making with independentents with ban voters.the sub these are the voters who gave them the victory in 2018 and actually really helped the democrats in a number of

gubernatorial raises in deep red states. there's a sense from the democrats that the combat pull tone is not workingith that group of voters and trying to make a case that calls out tori common amn values. >> lisa, michael, lisa was talking about the trmission, actually when the marlz of impeachment get sent to theh senate whll trigger the trial. apparent three there's some talk among the democratst they want to use this as leverage, they want to see if they can get, negotiatlefavorerms for th trial and if they can't, they're not going to send them at all. they said there will be no trial. the presidenwouldn't bed acquitd he would just carry the scarlet eye as it were of impeachment without the awe aquilgt. is cquittal. is that something that would play. >> i would really suris if nancy pelosi fell for that. i'm a republican and you see mitch mcconnell out there alwayh arguindemocrats are trying to obstruct all legislation.

if i were himoui w love to have the talking point that the democrats are sobo structive that they can't even pass over impeachment to the united states senate. >> and meike this now goes to the senate where the republicans are in control or the republicans have the majority. how, what is the challenge nowfo the democrats given 69 fact that everyone is assumed that thpresident will e acquitted. >> the challenge the democrs are facing is mitch mcconnell will set the terms of thisn debate in the e but he has to watch out for his center flank. he's worried to be able to control the gavel at the next h selection and a number of vulnerable republican senators who are up for re-ection. ke cory gardner, susan collins who need to be seen as more impartial as taking their job as senator seriously.ha yo a couple other senators who have concerns railroading this through. mitch mcconnell in utah,

murkowski in alaska. there are democrats who say we need a fair process here we wan hear from these witnesses that did not come before the house. if isn't a fair trial we need to ar from those witnesses. >> it's been a long day. you said mitch mcconnell you meant mit mitt o mitt romney of. >> mitt romney. is doing with this letter asking house.e white >> so chuck schumer is the leader of the democrat sent a letter to mitch mcconnell saying we should have a fair here we should model that on the bipartisan approved procedures of the clinton emme. and we should hear from some of these witnesses. the white house sta ck mulvaney, the president's national security advisor john bolton people who are fact witnesses who got directions directly from the president andh did not appear before the subpoenas the houd issued.sist >> i understand lisa desjardins on the hill who

new information for us.got some what's going on, lisa. >> reporter: well i have to give credit. we have a big team on the hill tonight for us anyway. we're all but scrappy. our excellent producer is at nancy pelosi's ne kefns right now and is telling me that the speaker has said she will not transmit the articles of impeachment tonight. she does plan on doing it at some point but notably the speaker did say in her press conference tht she is considering the idea that she wants to think about how thes senateing to handle its debates. she also has said that she does not like the idea that the senate leader is in cahoots with the president. so it seems that pelo is t least considering the idea of holding on to these articles of impeachment briefly perhaps. at least she's holding her card close to her vest andthinking about her next move. she will not be transmittingpe articles of hment tonight

and she is thinking about if she handles the next step, this is a remarkable and unprecedented step if she decides to take it. it's something we're goi to have to pay very close attention to. >> good information. the olsaying on the hill that the rill rivalry is not republics and democrats it's the house versus the senate. nick, remind us how we got here. we got here because of a phone call about aid to ukraine and how much about this of this issue of this policy about ukraine have we heardr has this gotten lost in tal,. >> the policy is of course the source of the impeachment but 's the poitics of the day that dominatedthe discussion. it is important to remind people there is a policy here and that is life and death for some people. ukraine is the only country in you're at war and the trump administration two years ago took major steps to try and improve ukraine's abity to deter and defend itself against

russian-backed separatists. sent more aggressive wen sent more money and generally improved the efforts to combatrr tion inside ukraine. that was the trump administration policy until this year. and then there was trump,es ent trump's personal poli rudy giuliani policy and they questioned military aid they changed the focus n corruption more specifically to joe bind's son hunter who was on the board of ukraine's largest energy company while his father was running policy in e obama administration and discid theory that ukraine somehow involved in 2016 so the freezing of military aid that let to the withholding of thehite house for president zelensky the ukrainian president was the poicy rsus president presume's policy and that's what the democratuse to the president abrogated national security bt republicans say

wait a minute the aid was release ed ventionally and the president was worried about corruption. >> okay, thank you all very much. >> as we'yve been sag that's the third time that body has debated impeaching the president. where does all this fit in the historical context. beverly gaze is the professor of history and american sdies at yale university which is where she is tonight. professor gage, thanks for joining us. the hiss to bicle aspect of thishow does what is going o now compare with previous impeachments, not so much with e specifics of what the president's being charged or the allegations against theid prt, but the political environment, the political strugglearound these

proceedings? we've been in a moment like this a few times in american history. in the 1860s, the andrew johnson impeachment, of course, watergate in the 1970s and then the impeachmentf bill clinton in the 1990s, and i would say what they have in common is that, in each of those cases, we saw very particular battles about very pticular events, the actual charges that were brought in impeachment proceedings were about very specific acts but they all took place within maybe a larger set of political conflict, and those political acts, those axe that were so central to the impeachment proceedings really tended to fit into narratives had about each of these already presidents, and i think that's the case with trump as well. >> yang: is there something you can see about the differencein the political mospheres, sort of the about the way those presidents

have responded to what was going on and how their parties responded to what was going on? >> yea i think our best point of reference is really watergate in the 1970s, which is long enough ago to see pretty big differences in the structural changes that have happened in american politics. u know, in certain ways, trump and nixon are similar political figures in terms of thr personalities, their combativeness toward their political critics, but i think we're in a vy different atmosphere in a lot of ways. if you look the 1970s, the parties had a lot more overlap in terms of ideologythey were a lot less national, so the structure of the parties was differen the structure of the media was really different, there wasn't 'ty fox news, and there wa anything like twitter where the president was able to directly t his message out, and you see a lot of other structuralre differences y in kind of how impeachment proceedings are

going along. we're seeing a lot less use of the courts now than we saw under nixon and, of course, politically, one to hav -- one h big questions is this going to affect the 2020 election, both in the 1970s election, both in the 1970s and the 1990s do you, you were talking about presidents who had already been elected to second terms and we had this big election hanging over the entire affair. the republicans whate, it was president nixon it was time to go. but in more recent sways, presidenclinton and president trump, we had their president.llying around their does that speak to the nature of the allegations against them, or does that speak toitical atmosphere of the times? tt i think it speaks to a of each. we do have a story of watergate in which tre is a very, very long process from e middle obu 1972 when thlary actually

happened, all the y through to august of 1974, when nixon finally resigned, and actually for most of that time the republican party stuck very fiercely with nixon as the democrats did with clinton and as the republicans appear to bet doing wimp as well. i think what happened in 1974 is really that nixon had taken a stand that he had not participated in the burglary, he had not participated in theve up, and, so, when the tapes finally came out, showing that, in fact, he had quite explicitly been lying, that was a genuine shock to many of his republican allies, and, at that moment, but very, very late in the process, they suggested they were going to turn on him. trump has taken a very, very different approach to the wholen thing by s yes, of course, i did the things that you are suggesting that i did, but they are perfectly fine. so we might have new revelations and, in fact, i think we will, as this continues, but it's a

very d different set of tactics coming out of the white house. >> in the fit 220 years of this nation, we had only one president face an impeachment proceeding. now we're havinghe second in about 45 years. and the third in what does that say? what as an historian, what do you think that says? >> well, i think it's partly heat, after the johnson impeachment,articular politics of reconstruction were so specific to that moment, what was happening in the republican party, the reentry of the uth, but it didn't have a lot of parallels over the next century and didn't tend to look to impeachment for an option. of course, since nixon, we've seen these three sets of impeachment preedings -- nixon, clinton and now trump -- and i do think they ha fed on each other a little bit. some of it is just the pace of our politics are different, but we are seeing heightened levels

of partisanship and the fact that we're getting a little bit of a kind of tit for tatsi ation, though a lot of people in the end recognize the legitimacy of watergate, there's always a core of republicansit that felas a witch hunt, an unfair attack on the s esidency. some of those fore the ones who went on the attack against bill clinton and, ofco se, the clinton impeachment really set a precedent for a p hightisan set of processes looking back to as their primary >> president clint course, acquitted in the senate. looks like president trump will probably be acquitted in the senate. has the nature of impeachment has it now become not this rare event but a tool in the partisan arsenal? >> i think thathat's partly a fair characterization. i mean, one of the strange things about our histo of impeachment is that, actually, it's never worked.

so johnson was impeached but stayed in office. nixon was about to be impeached but he resigned, so didn't go through the full impeachment and trial process. billlinton was, in fact, impeached and put on trial but also remained in office. and, so, i think we are seeing it being used, to some degree, as a partisan tool, but we're also seeing it, you know, as a check for rule of law, for other more principled aspects, but it doesn't seem like it's going to be terribly effective in terms of removing the president from office, in this case as it >> yang: beverly gof yale past. university, thank you very much. >> yang: there is other news tonighpe a federal s court struck down part of obamacare, but it stopped ort of throwing

out the enti law. the three-judge panel in new orleans today agreed with a lower court in texas that the insurance is unconstitutional.th congress had already gutted that provision. the rest of the law goes back to the lower court for further review.yo a ne judge dropped state charges of mortgage fraud against former trump campaign chairman paul manafort. the dictment was widely seen as an attempt to keep manafort in prison, even if president trump pardons him for his federal crimes. manafort is now serving a seven-year sentence for those convictions, which areinked to the russia investigation. in australia, unprecedented summer heat gripped the continent for a second day. the nationwide average on tuesday was 105 degrees fahrenheit, the hottest on record. today, temperatures in some places reached 118. the heat wave has helped fuel dozens of wildfires. elsewhere, children played in fountains and many families took to local beaches.

experts said the readings are extraordinary by any standard. >> that is incredible. these national average maximumco temperature s. we normally only break them by just a very small margin, but we oke the previous one back in january 13y a .6 of a degree. >> yang: meanwhile, in russia, moscow saw unusually warm temperatures, despite the onset of winter. it was almost 43 degrees, when it is usually in the 20s. that made the city's warmest december 18 since 1886. back in this country, immigrants claiming asylum in the u.s. may face more restrictions. a new federal regulation would bar asylum claims from anyone convicted of illegaly re-enterg the united states, committing domestic violence, or driving drunk. it is the trump administration's latest effort to curb the flow of migrants. the proposal is subject to public comment before it can take effect. the trump administration laid out proposals to allow the importation of cheaper drugs from abroad. one rule would let states bring in brand-ne drugs from canada,

under federal oversight. the other lets manufacturers import cheaper versions of their own drugs from any country. it is still unclear when the proposals would go into effect. fiat chrysler and p.s.a. peugeot signed a merger deal today to form the world's 4th largest automaker. the new company will produce more than 8.5 million cars a, yeth revenues of nearly $190 billion. the companies said they plan to invest more in low-emissions an new drivchnologies. and, on wall street, the dow jones instrial average lost 27 points to close at 28,239.e sdaq rose four points, but, the s&p 500 slipped still to come on the newshour: on the ground in california, where democratic voters arelo getting a clos at the candidates. a breakthrough treatment for spinal cord injus es offers rece considered impossible. and, students from around thth country sharr questions

for the candidates in tomorrow's democrat debate. >> yang: california is the nation's most populous state, and with more than 400 delegates at stake, it's a big prize in the democratic presidential primary. this year, state officials have mod up voting, to march 3- super tuesday. national correspondent stephanie sy traveled to south california to hear what voters >> reporter: around picnic tables and kitchen counters, california voters are torn between hope...>> am confident that in the end our electorate will say the right thing and we will move inn a better direc >> reporter: ...and fear: >> i'm fearful for our democracy. >> reporter: among this set of democrats in the los angeles

suburb of south whittier, the talk is grounded in the experience that comes from a life long-lived. >> i'm with a candidate who is being realistic. >> reporter: these ares less moved by vision and big ideas, and attentive to policy specifics. >> and we want our private insurance. >> i like the fact that people should have optis. >> reporter: kathie, elias, jois, and jan are all undecided, but former vice president biden feels like a safe fallback. >> we need someone who c certainly leaning iden. now, i'm although i'm such a strong feminist, so it hurts me. >> reporter:t a millennial phone bank event in westwood, a stark contrast: the under-30 voters are more interested in who vespires them, and most ha made up their mind. >> i mean, i think that we havex a lot of reallllent candidates. i have my candidate chosen, pete buttigieg. >> i think i'm going to support elizabeth warren. >> reporter: for decades, the state of california has been

mostly an afterthought for democratic presidential primary candidates, but this year, with state could be decisive.lden >> voters will get their vote by mail ballots the night of the iowa caucuses. reporter: it's why more than the past, candidates ha been coming to the state courting voters and holding rallies, not just fundraisers, riys longtime political analyst ina bellantoni. >> we used to vote in june. thand by doing it in march idea was that, you're right after the first four traditional voting and caucusingtates, you can ha a significant impact. >> the candidate who wins here,t largest state in the country, will, in all likelihood, win the nominar:on. >> reporut, the most populous state is notoriously difficult to run a campaign in. it's a lot of ground to cover and a unique set of challenges. >> reaching that num voters is just so expensive.

i mean, you could spend $20 million television ads in california and not really make a dent. >> reporter: but despite the hurdles, many californian democrats,ike working mom amanda nottke, are energized. >> i mea i'm excited. we're spoiled for choice, in a lot of ways. >> reporte amanda was among a small contingent of senator gathered for a sunrningters beach clean-up in santa monica. there's been a lot of talkca about whicidate would do better in the general election, a progressive candidate or a moderate. where do you fall when it comes to electability? >> i want someone that is ectable. but i feel like elizabeth warren is the best of both worlds. she's smart. she has plans. she is a progressive. but i think she also knows the nate and she knows congress, and she knows how to get things through.te >> rep and back the phone bank in westwood, rachel bracker says this is a pivotal moment. >>t feels like we're kind on the cusp of something where our country can either go

towards a more progressive future, where we're doing thingn like addreclimate change, addressing health care and addressing a growing colle, an automobile and home debt. or, we're gointo ignore those sues and go towards the sort of isolationisco, less united try. >> reporter: a recent poll by the "los angeles times" found democratic primary voters in california ranked climate change as their number one priority for the next president. >> climate is getting worse every year, every year it's getting hotter. we're not getting rains as much anymore. >> reporter: matt and wendy valdivia, who live in san bernardino county, are one ofou nds of californians who have been impacted byg devastatldfires. >> that's my house burning... up in flames. >> reporter: they lost their home a little over a month ago in the hillside fire. the memories are still raw. >> so i just, i saw it, right in flames.t completely engulfed

it was burned to a crisp. >> reporter: so it was a tal loss. >> total loss, total everything. everything was gone. irreplaceable letters to theirst ochildren and photos stora stranded laptop, but they also lost the sense of security they thought they had gained when they purchased tir first home they had saved up for two years to buy the house. >> it's still almost check to check with everything that has to that goes within a family. you know, you got ur mortgage and then the prices in california aren't cheap either, you know, and thatust keeps rising and rising. you got yo, your health care is, is rising anrising. >> insurance is too, everything, you need insurance for everything. >> reporter: the valdivias face the nd of systemic challenge that make senator bernie sanders's message resonate with them. >> you know, just he's, he's lot of things that weren't for a

popular, >> reporter: matt calls himself a hardcore bernie supporter, but like all the democrats we spoke to, he agrees the 2020 election is about more than any single candidate. and for many voters like jan baird e bottom line is clear. >> i hate to say this but the most importantuality is that they can beat trump. >> reporter: that sentiment from jan baird, you will hear from a lot of california voters. tiey feel conflicted between supp the democratic candidate they really like and supporting the candidate the think can beat president trump in 2020. there is a lot of anxiety about a repeat of the 2016 electn here, and that's why the debate that pbs "newshourand politico are hosting tomorrow night here at loyola marymount yuniversity is being clos watched. a lot of undecided voters want to hear from the candidates to see who they will back in the end. john.an >> stephanie, moving california up in the primary calendar means it will be the

first big, diver state to test the candidates' appeal. >> reporter: it is the biggest state on super tuesday, and it is the most diverse state. a lot of latino voters here, a lot of asian-american voters here, and there is not a single candidate that voters of color here are coalescing behind. i will say the latest polls show senator sanders has an edgwith latino voters. >> yang: and california is interesting because so many the policies that the democratic candidates are debating right now have actually been enacted out there. >> reporter: yeah, i like so say, john, california is actually a laboratory for progressive policies. they have the governor's mansion, they have a super majority in the legislature here, so that has meant the last two years, they have passed a lot of progressive legislation. they have stricter emissions controls for vehicles here, they ve stricter gun control. they recently passed a bill protecting big economy freelancers, which is still

e.being debated in this st so what you see is a lot of the big ideas that we'll hearab candidates talt in the debate tomorrow night actuallyin enacted in this state and, for that reason, californiaians like to think of themselves as trendsetters. >> yang: stephanie sy at the site of tomorrow night's "pbs newshour" politico debate. you will be part of the "pbs newshour" coverage tomorrow night, is thatight? >> reporter: yep, part of the pre-show, halftime show and post-show with my colleagues. tune in. >> yang: pre-show starts 7:30 p.m. easternnd the full debate 8:00 p.m. eastern on pbs stations. >> yang: roughly 300,000 people in the united states have suffered spinal cord injuries-- life-changing events, with far-reaching effects. but as william braham reports,

new research out of the university of louisville is giving dozens of paralyzed people the prospect of regaining some of what they've lost. it's part of our series, "breakthroughs on the leading edge of science." >> brangham: for theast ten years, this is t only way kent ephenson has been able to get around. heas a severe spinal cord injury-- no feeling or movement below his chest. so wh you're about to see is something that shouldn't be possible, because doctors told him his legs would never work again.an yet... h todas back on his feet, struggling and straining to -learn how to take stepsai ag let's back up. in 2009, steenson was a semi-pro motross rider.da but one y at practice, he took a jump, his bike seizeup, and he crashed. as he was rolled into the hoital on a gurney, he got

glimpse of a future he had never imagin. >> open my eyes and yod see the ceiling, it was metal, and i could see the reflection of myself. and that w when it really hit me, because one of my boots was stl on for some reason. i don't know why they didn't take it off, but i was like, oh, boy. i could not feel that. >> brangham: stephenson had destroyed two vertebrae in his back. doctors said he'd be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. his career was over. >> i mean, that was my dream sie i was little, was to go do that, race that pro circuit and do all that. and it was, i mean, it was like, "heck, yeah, let's go" because everything was in place, and then, everything changed that day. >> brangham: but in 2010, he enlisted in an experimental research program at the university of louisville. e traditional view has been that when someone like stephenson has such a bad injury, the signal between his brain and his spinal cord isve permanently d. but susan harkema-- that's her ed-- directs spinal cord injury research at the

university of louisville and the frrehab institute, and she wondered whether there was more to wt than that. n a person has a spinal cord injury, as devastating asly that is, it's here the bone is broken that the neurons die. but there's millions of neurons below that are still alive and can function under the right conditions. and then we know all the neurons in the brain are stire. it's just that communication network that's broken.>> rangham: harkema and her colleagues ran a series of experiments using what's known as an epidural stimulator, a device typically used to treat pain. implanted near the base of the spine, it delivers a small electrical current. they wanted to test e idea th this current could restore some of that spinal communication. but when stevenson got his implant, he thought the whole thing sounded pretty far-he fe and the whole time, are you just thinking, like, "come on, guys, we know what the answer is--oi it ain't to happen?" >> you know, the little gremlin

over here on my shoulder. yeah, he's like, what're you... you're wasting your time. >> brangham: that was, until something remarkable started to happen. this video is from 2011. that's stevenson there. he'd just d his stimulator planted. remember, he hadn't moved hisdy lower n years. but now, he's going to try. >> up. and down. wesome. >> oh, man. i mean, it was... my mom was in the roomot i was there,ll eye-watery and everything. ,"mean, i was like, "oh, b tu know, "now what?" ere's this goigo? you know? from, you know, dathat youd just traumatically injured your spinal cd. it's done. you know, there's nothing. >> brangha harkema acknowledges she too was stunned at these results. shand her colleagues don't exactly know how or why this all

works. the theory is, even with the most severe spinal injuries, some pathways remain intact, and the stimulat helps amplify the signal from the brain through the spine to the limbs. then, to augment this effect,ey se intense physical therapy to recreate what it, physicald mentally, feels like to walk again. >> you put weight back on the legs, you get them extended, you get the trunk uprigh spinal circuitry says, "oh, i know what that is. that's standing. i know how to do that." and then the circuits for standing relearn again. >> brangham: nearly two dozen have been implanted wit stimulators through this program. now able to stand uprig with support. two have been able to walk--as sted-- over flat ground. one managed to walk nearly a quarter of a mile, with breaks,t over course of an hour. rlother programs in switzeand and at the mo clinic in

minnesota have produced similar results. of course, it's all easieraid than done. training, in many cases, takes more than a year. marissa kirkling has had her implant nce last sumr. after a car accident left her heralyzed below the chest, too had been told this... would never happen. she's in the early days ofng learo stand again. and she's the first to admit, it's really hard. >> you have to be thinking... as i keep talki and kind ofet a little off-focused of my legs, i'm losing them. >> brangham: so am i distracting you here, should i go away? >> no, you're okay. >> brangham: she's got to concentrate on every single muscle, her posture, where her feet are. not to mention, answer my questions. >> before my accident, you know, you don't have to really think. like, you're standing there right now. you don't have to think, "oh, squeeze your glutes, toes up,

heels to the for." >> brangham: so you're thinkingh all those th right now? >> yes. and, like, head up stracght, neck shoulders back. so... because if you don't think out them, you're going to... i'm going to buckle. >> brangham: but the benefitsd for her go beyanding. spinal cord injuries also impair some peoples' ability to relate their blood pressur kirkling said hers would drop so suddenly, even getting out of bed was a challenge. >> you pass out, andhen it's like, you're out. and then you just comeack. and then just have to try againb >>ngham: and that would happen several times during an average day? >> yes. yes, it's just, you could be at the grocery store, or the mall shopping, just sitti there watching a movie, doesn't matter. >> brangham: but the epidural stimulator also improves this function. now, kirkling is off most her

blood-pressure medications and she can get through most days without passing out. she's also regaining herbility to sing, something else her accident robbed her of. of course, there are still plenty of other, open questions. dr. ali rezai is a neurosurgeon and director of the rockefeller neuroscience institute at the university of west virginia. >> it's interesting and it's exciting, but there's a lot of constraints that we need to look at, in terms of, it doesn't wore in erybody.ot so wve g to understand why is it, a i think being able tojy exciting, no doubt. but we need to translate that into funional, practal applications. >> brangham: beyond that, rezai says, there's thissue of scalability. >> a lot of these studies across the world have large teams,s, neurosurgeeuroscientists, neurologists, dozens of people. antothe patients have to comor the hospital, o the clinic. we need to translate that to the home.

>> brangham: harkema acknowledges this research is still just the tip of the iceberg. >> we need to look at procesgh differently now. regardless of epidural stimulation, whether it should be a treatment or not. we know people can recover. i mean, that's clear. k >> brangham: ft stephenson and his wife-- who were babysitting their nie when we visited-- it's meant dreams of an expanding fute. >> one of my questions right out of the gate, in the back of my mind was, can i have kids? you know, the physical fitness that i've gotten back from being part of the stimulator program. it gives me that instillment that i could be, you know, themo father that i was going to be before or after injury. >> brangham: for marissa kirkling, it not only means the possibility of one day standing and walking on her own, but regaining the ability to do something she loves. ♪ it's been a longd rk time coming ♪ but i kw...

>> brangham: for the pbs news ur, m william brangham >> yang: after a historic turnout from generation z in la year's midterm election democratic presidentl candidates are heavily courting young voters. our student reporting labs project reached out toeens around the country, to find out what issues they care about and wh questions they'd like to hear the candidates answer at tomorrow's newshour/politico debate. >> my name is haelle trigue white. i'm from beaverton, oregon, and the question i have for the pridential candidates at t next democratic debate is about gun violence. as a high scho student, i am terrified every day that my school will be next. what are you gng to do to stop school shootings? >> my question to the democratic candidates is: to those republicans at home who are dissatisfied with the current state of the trump

administration, what can you say to them to show that you would be a president for all the people, not just those within your party? >> my name is sam oswald from salt lake city, utah and my question for the democrati candidates is: how will your faith influence your actions in the white house? >> my name is phylicia bailey from mount clemensanmichigan, my question for the candidates is: what can you do about lowering the cost ofco ege tuition? >> how many refugees should the united states take in? and how would you balance the humanitarian concerns of migrants and border enforcement? >> if daca were to end, what would you do to help those people that are no longer being >protected? > are they going to keep troops in iraq and afghanistan? are they goingo continue funding a war that's been going on for almost two decades now?l >> how wu put an end to mass incarceration, and how will you put an end to white interrorism and hate crimehe united states? >> how can you take on the billionaire class if you yourself are taking morom billionaires? t the national debt has doubled in the last decaover $22

trillion. young people of my generation are expected to bear the burden of national debt. why do we have to pay the price >> what actions will you take to protect women's rights? for example, are you going to prevent restrictive abortion laws? >> the question i would like tos the democratic candidates is how they plan to deal with big pharmaceutical companies and the current prices of mes, such as epi-pens and insulin. >> should funding for mental health illness be increased for research purposes? i'm a high school student and student stress is a really big thing, student stress can cause depression, anxiety and a lot of other medical issues. >> if elected, how would your environmental policy address states that have economies largely based upon the fossil fuel industry? >> my name is anlina hunt. i'm from alexandria, virginia, and my question for the amocratic candidates is: time where there's a lot of political division in our country, if you were elehaed president,would you do to heal that divide?

>> yang: youiean find a prof tomorrow's "newshour" politico debate online. we'll be posting stories and analysis all the way through the debate. that's on our web site wss.org/newshour. and that is the ur for tonight. i'm john yang. join us online, and agre tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thanks, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> when it comes to wireless, consumer cellular gives its stomers the choice. our no-contract plans give you as much, or as little, talk, text and data as you want, and our u.s.-based ctomer service team is on hand to help. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> bnsf railway. on and with the ongoing support of these institu and individuals.

>> is program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcastinut and by contrns to your pbs station from viewers like you. ns captioning sed by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

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