NBC announces five moderators for the first Democratic debate

NBC News on Tuesday announced five moderators for the first Democratic presidential primary debates June 26–27 in Miami.

The five moderators will include: Lester Holt of “NBC Nightly News” and “Dateline NBC”; Savannah Guthrie of “Today”; Chuck Todd of “Meet the Press”; Rachel Maddow of MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show”; and José Diaz-Balart of “Noticias Telemundo” and “NBC Nightly News Saturday.”

{mosads}Holt will appear for both nights, with Guthrie and Diaz-Balart alongside him for the first hour of each night and Maddow and Todd joining him in the second hour, according to NBC News.

The debate is set to take place from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. both nights at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.

To qualify for the debate stage, candidates need to secure at least 1 percent in three polls from designated outlets or collect contributions from 65,000 unique donors, including at least 200 donors from 20 different states. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has said that no more than 20 participants would be allowed into the first debates.

Currently, there are 24 candidates running for the Democratic nomination.

There will be a lottery Friday at NBC’s headquarters in New York City to determine where candidates are placed on stage in the first debate.

The DNC has announced that for the Sept. 12–13 debates, the location for which has not yet been set, the qualifications will be narrowed to those who meet both thresholds rather than either.