The daylight between five Democrats vying for Nevada’s 4th Congressional District seat was evident starting with their go-to orders at Starbucks: Steven Horsford said he likes black coffee with Splenda, and state Sen. Pat Spearman said she’d want Kool-Aid.

But their differences didn’t stop with their answers to the lighthearted questions that kicked off a youth-focused candidate forum Tuesday hosted by progressive advocacy group NextGen America, which was founded by California billionaire Tom Steyer. The five took different tacks on Medicare for All, labor unions and accepting corporate donations, eliciting some loud cheers and occasional heckling at the forum, which was held at the Three Square food bank site in North Las Vegas.

They also had a chance to show a little personality, offering up creative closing statements at the request of organizers. Spearman belted out a few bars of “Over the Rainbow” while high school principal John Anzalone told a self-deprecating story about trying to install Christmas lights and progressive activist Amy Vilela had her supporters show off homemade campaign posters.

The seat, open after Democratic Rep. Ruben Kihuen decided to sit out the next election while he faces accusations of sexual harassment, is home to the state’s most competitive Democratic House primary. Horsford, who represented the district for one term before losing in 2014, is the candidate to beat, with a wide fundraising lead and the endorsement of the heavyweight Culinary Union.

His advantage had at least one of his opponents crying foul. Asked about where she parts ways with her party, Spearman said she dislikes how its leaders choose candidates in primaries and shower them with resources.

“The thing I most disagree with our party is the anointing process,” she said. “What’s happening is we’re losing some very good talent because they have not been chosen. I disagree with that and I hope that this election ... we will say ‘hell no.’”

Candidates who attended were Horsford, Spearman, Vilela, Anzalone and Regent Allison Stephens. Here’s what they had to say on a variety of issues.

Medicare for All

Asked what she would do to make health care more affordable and accessible, Vilela pushed for a solution she has been championing since after her 22-year-old daughter died of a pulmonary embolism in 2015.

“Anybody that knows me knows that on Day 1, I will join the majority of the House, right now, in Congress, with the other bold Democrats, and co-sponsor HR676 — Medicare for All,” she said. “It’s not enough to talk about affordability and access. My daughter who’s dead had access. And what’s affordable to you may not be affordable to the single mother down the road.”

She challenged Democrats to stop accepting money from hospitals, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies, even when donations are packaged as contributions from leadership PACs.

Anzalone said he had some concerns about the bill.

“What the seniors are telling me, many of the seniors, including my mom ... is that Medicare is not perfect,” he said. “Before we go to a full Medicare for All for everyone, we want to make sure it’s working for all the people."

Horsford has been noncommittal about the specific Medicare for All bill Vilela supports, but has said he supports the concept of universal health care.

“We have to do it in a way that protects and insures all the people, people who are veterans, people who are in private insurance, and it can be done,” he said, adding that “I also want to take on prescription affordability because the single largest driver of health-care costs right now is the cost of prescription drugs. And for those who have diabetes or cancer or heart disease — what they are seeing is those costs going up and they can’t afford it.”

An audience member shouted at Horsford to “stop taking money from big pharma.” After Horsford unveiled a plan to cut prescription drug costs a few weeks ago, Republicans pointed out that he’d taken tens of thousands of dollars from pharmaceutical companies as a member of Congress.

Stephens said the problem is bigger than insurance.

“The one thing I’m really tired of is hearing people talking about coverage and calling it universal health care,” she said. “Having coverage is one aspect — it’s an important aspect, you’ve got to have some sort of insurance coverage — but that’s not it.”

She called for more transparency in the cost of medical services, and said the state needs to attract enough doctors that people aren’t being airlifted out of state for treatment.

Spearman said she has concerns about how veterans’ existing systems of care would be affected under a Medicare for All proposal.

“I’ve talked with some people about the current bill and they can’t convince me that it excludes veterans, it excludes people in the military,” she said, adding that she wants to see a carve-out for the military.

#MeToo movement

Asked how they’ve been personally affected by the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment, Stephens said that she’s been the victim of a stalker who was recently released from prison. The regent said she also received threatening messages saying she shouldn’t run for anything again and that her career is over.

She praised the movement of speaking out about those stories.

“So many of us women have been living with it alone, not knowing that there was a Me Too sitting next to us. Not knowing that we had that power because of who we are, because of our experiences,” she said.

Spearman recalled a time when she was stationed with the Army in Panama in 1986, and a superior was sexually harassing her. She pointed out that beyond women experiencing harassment in their workplace, sexual misconduct also affects children.

“We’ve got to take this moment and wherever, whomever has either stalked, abused, that has misused, that has sexually assaulted, whatever they have done — any type of unwanted advances — those people need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” she said, adding that the Legislature recently extended a statute of limitations for reporting sexual assault.

Vilela said she had experienced sexual abuse as a child. She said she wants to shed light on other groups affected by misconduct — including the transgender community — and “keep the lines of communication open” on how to prevent inappropriate conduct in the future.

Anzalone said the significance of the #MeToo movement for him involves his two young daughters, who attended the forum.

“The way I’m treating my wife every single day, that they’re watching that ... that to me is my Me Too movement,” he said. “Making sure they’re raised in a home of love so that when they have their relationships when they’re a little older, that they understand what being taken care of is, what a healthy relationship looks like.”

He also said that when three students approached him a few years ago to say they were date raped, he ensured the perpetrator was arrested and prosecuted.

Horsford called for listening and action.

“I think we need to change the culture in every environment, whether it’s in private business, the public sector, doesn’t matter — it needs to not be tolerated,” he said.

Breaking with the Democratic Party

Candidates were asked to share something they dislike about their party. Horsford said he thinks Democrats have ceded too much ground to Republicans in the conversation about faith and values.

“I think we have given, particularly under this administration, too much credit for the faith and values discussion, and we need to reclaim that as Democrats,” he said.

Horsford also said the party isn’t talking enough about how to spur small business enterprises.

“I also think we need to do more to reclaim small businesses and entrepreneurship because that really is the driving force of our economy,” he said.

Stephens, who represents Nevada as its Democratic national committeewoman, said she’s frustrated by the response among leading Democrats to the past election.

“One of the things I’ve noticed is that they’re so busy chasing down most of these voters that eluded us in 2016. They’re not focused on people who are already there with them, who already share Democratic values,” she said. “There’s this fear of we’ve got to go to middle America, we’ve got to go change our platform, we’ve got to adjust. How about we focus on the people that are Democrats? The people who share our values, who believe in diversity, who believe it is the strength of our country? Who believes all the things we’ve talked about tonight?”

Vilela said the Democratic Party has lost a connection with its roots.

“They’re supposed to be the party of the people,” she said. “They keep moving right to try to fight Trump. You need to move left … We’re losing thousands of seats because we keep having corporate puppets sitting in seats in Congress right now. We need to make sure we get powerful Democrats back.”