WASHINGTON— DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz issued the following statement on tonight’s Republican debate:

“Tonight’s debate didn’t fundamentally change anything in the Republican primary, but it exposed two major problems the GOP is going to have on Election Day regardless of which extreme candidate secures their nomination. First, The GOP autopsy revealed the patient is definitely dead. And their Republican presidential candidates buried it. The Republican candidates’ tone on immigration alienates everyone in America who has family or friends that they’re vowing to deport, as well as those who recognize the economic damage that mass deportations would have on our economy. Just as troubling, the Republican candidates continue to show they don’t have a plan for anything else. It was ironic hearing Marco Rubio criticize Donald Trump for not having a health care plan, when neither he nor any of the candidates have detailed any plan beyond repealing the Affordable Care Act and taking health care away from 19 million of their fellow Americans. 

“There were no solutions offered tonight – only insults and mudslinging, and it was painful to watch.

“The clearest message to emerge out of tonight’s ugly, obnoxious debate was that the Republican Party is stuck with a field of candidates with views far out of touch with the American people. The primaries are no longer the GOP’s biggest problem—they should be panicking about November.”