The event was not without incident, as protesters briefly blocked off entrances and exits from the building on the University of Michigan-Flint campus housing members of the press.

During the debate, candidate questioning focused overwhelmingly on issues related to infrastructural and economic problems facing low-income, urban communities, with Flint’s own issues in these arenas often serving as a jumping off point.

Both candidates called for Gov. Rick Snyder’s resignation, that night being Clinton’s first time doing so, debate moderator Anderson Cooper said.

Several times during the debate Sanders took aim at trade policies Clinton supported.

“NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), supported by the Secretary cost, us 800,000 jobs nationwide, tens of thousands of jobs in the Midwest,” Sanders said. “You didn’t need a PhD in economics to understand that American workers should not be forced to compete against people in Mexico making 25 cents an hour.”

Clinton took aim at Sanders vote against the 2009 federal bailout of Detroit’s then financially forlorn automakers.

“If everybody had voted the way he did, I believe the auto industry would have collapsed, taking four million jobs with it,” Clinton said. “I voted to save the auto industry.”

Clinton’s charge sparked an intense round of verbal judo between the candidates.

Sanders’ most talked about policy proposal on college campuses, free college tuition, was a hot topic of conversation for staffers and supporters of both candidates.

“I think secretary Clinton’s view is let’s reduce the cost of college and increase pell grants so that those who really deserve and need help to be able to go to college can get that help,” Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) said. “The point is to not just take positions, but pursue policy we can actually get achieved.”

Sanders’ campaign manager Jeff Weaver disagreed.

“We used to have free college and universities in this country in California, New York and other places,” Weaver said. “It’s about political will, not anything else.”

Weaver is likely referring to defunct tuition policies at some American colleges in place primarily during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Some leaders present at the debate expressed hope that its messages resonated with young voters.

“I was really glad we were able to talk about a wide variety of issues that should be important to young people,” Rep. Deborah Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Democratic National Committee chair, said. “So much of what was covered affects their future, whether it was education, or healthcare or infrastructure.”

Other leaders brought up the important lessons minority youth voters could take away from the debate.

Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson said one of those being that votes matter. Jackson also took note of the significance of the date of the debate.

“Today is the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, 51 years ago today,” Jackson said. “It should serve as a reminder that the road from Selma to Flint is a bloody road but it is a road we must travel to achieve justice in our country.”

Towards the end of the debate, each candidate’s religious backgrounds were a topic of some discussion.

Clinton answered a question regarding her prayer habits.

“I am a praying person, and if I hadn’t been during the time I was in the White House, I would have become one,” Clinton said. “It’s very hard to imagine living under that kind of pressure without being able to fall back on prayer.”

Cooper asked Sanders if he keeps his Jewish identity “in the background.”

“I am very proud of being Jewish, and that is an essential part of who I am as a human being,” Sanders said.