The moderators weren’t having much luck enforcing the rules Thursday night in Miami. So Kamala Harris had to do it.

Former Vice President Joe Biden had finished an answer about his education plans, and the other presidential hopefuls on the 10-Democrat stage were all cutting in.

“We will let you all speak,” moderator José Díaz-Balart promised, as Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and author Marianne Williamson, at opposite ends of the stage, both tried to be heard.

Then, everyone quieted down as Harris’ voice rose above the rest.

"Hey, guys, you know what, America does not want to witness a food fight,” the California senator said. “They want to know how we’re going to put food on their table." The audience cheered. Even Biden clapped.

Still, the second Democratic primary debate was much more of a boxing match than the first night in Miami. Lester Holt, Savannah Guthrie and Díaz-Balart followed a similar playbook to kick off both events, focusing on the economy, healthcare and immigration. Chuck Todd, who led the second half with Rachel Maddow, again posed questions to all 10 candidates in which he urged them to respond in just a word or two.

But the dynamic was different Thursday: The candidates were feistier, with more interruptions and cross talk early on and a resistance to being reined in. Sen. Bernie Sanders rejected Todd’s premise that the president must pick one issue to focus on after taking office, and Biden pushed back at what he saw as Todd’s implication that President Barack Obama didn’t tackle climate change aggressively enough.

The field also showed a clear willingness to confront Biden, who currently stands atop the polls.

Rep. Eric Swalwell redirected a question about automation and job skills into a swipe at Biden’s age, recalling that the now-76-year-old candidate had talked 32 years ago about the need to “pass the torch” to a new generation of Americans.

And Harris jumped into the fray after a question to South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg about policing, pivoting to take on Biden, even though it wasn’t her allotted time — and this time, he wasn’t cheering.

“I would like to speak on the issue of race,” Harris said, after Williamson interjected to endorse paying reparations for slavery to African-Americans. Harris then directly challenged Biden on his civil rights record and his recent comments about working with two segregationists when he served in the Senate.

“It was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing,” Harris said. “There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me.”

Biden argued that Harris mischaracterized his positions and that he “did not praise racists,” and he said he did not oppose busing except as mandated by the U.S. Department of Education. He said he helped extend the Voting Rights Act and supported an Equal Rights Amendment to guarantee legal rights regardless of sex. Then he trailed off, saying, “My time is up.”

The moderators stayed out of the way, letting the moment happen, to great effect.

“The senator took the lead, and so she created an exchange with him,” NBC News chairman Andrew Lack told POLITICO in the spin room following the debate.

Lack said the NBC team “expected that exchange” given Harris’s earlier criticism of Biden’s comments, but they “didn’t know how, when, precisely what the character of it would be.” And, he added, “it was a mystery to us what [Biden] was going to say.”

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“I’m in a truck with 15 screens, and I’m looking at the two of them, and we’re directing shots, and the important piece for us just to give them a chance to speak to each other in the way that they did,” Lack said. “And it was quite compelling.”

Many journalists agreed. HuffPost editor-in-chief Lydia Polgreen tweeted that it was an “extraordinary exchange,” while The Washington Post’s Robert Costa dubbed it “the most significant moment of the night.”

“Harris and Biden. Race. Confrontation. No pulled punches,” Costa continued. “The man who leads the polls and a rising, powerful woman who sees an opening to try to take command.”

At the end of the debate, Todd gave a harsh grade to the group for its ability to follow directions. “C minus,” he said.

But he can’t have been too upset: It made for great television.