The Democratic National Committee (DNC) will hold the first round of debates for Democratic presidential candidates tonight and tomorrow, June 26 and 27, in Miami, Florida. Each night’s debate will feature 10 of the candidates, and each debate will be featured in prime time on NBC News, MSNBC, and Telemundo. See the DNC press release.
After the DNC announced the 20 candidates who qualified for the debates based on grassroots support — using both poll results and donation tallies — NBC News then randomly chose the participants for each night, splitting those polling at greater than 2% between the two nights to avoid a lopsided debate event.
The candidates for the first night are:
- Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts
- Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas
- Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota
- Former Rep. John Delaney of Maryland
- Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii
- Former Housing Secretary Julián Castro
- Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio
- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio
- Washington Gov. Jay Inslee
The candidates for the second night are:
- Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont
- Sen. Kamala Harris of California
- Former Vice President Joe Biden
- Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana
- Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado
- Author Marianne Williamson
- Rep. Eric Swalwell of California
- Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York
- Entrepreneur Andrew Yang
- Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado
See NBC press release for further details about how the candidates were selected and scheduled.
The DNC has also announced that the second debate will be held on July 30 and 31 and broadcast on CNN, CNN International, and CNN en Español in prime time. In addition, ABC News, in partnership with Univision, will host the third debate on September 12, with a potential second night on September 13, if needed. See the DNC press releases for the second and third debates.