Moderators named for December Democratic primary debate

by Marina Pitofsky - 11/27/19 3:40 PM ET

PBS NewsHour and Politico on Wednesday announced the panel of moderators for the sixth Democratic National Committee primary debate to be held in California next month.

The moderators will include PBS NewsHour anchor and managing editor Judy Woodruff, Politico chief political correspondent Tim Alberta, PBS NewsHour senior national correspondent Amna Nawaz, and PBS NewsHour White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, according to a Wednesday statement.

The debate is set to take place on Thursday, Dec. 19, at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

{mosads}“We are thrilled to partner with PBS NewsHour and are committed to leveraging the depth of Politico’s newsroom to produce a substantive, interesting, and informative debate for voters,” Carrie Budoff Brown, editor of Politico, said in the statement.

Thus far, six candidates have qualified for the debate, NBC News reported this week: former Vice President Joe Biden; South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg; and Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

Candidates have until Dec. 12 to officially qualify. They must net 200,000 unique donors and hit at least 4 percent in four national or state polls, or 6 percent in two polls in states with early primaries, including Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-N.J.) campaign announced a six-figure ad buy as he fights to qualify for the debate. The senator has reached the 200,000 unique donor threshold, but has yet to meet the polling requirements.

“Cory 2020 isn’t leaving poll qualification up to margins of error or fate,” Booker campaign manager Addisu Demissie wrote in a memo to supporters Tuesday. “With the 200,000 unique donor threshold now met, we are reorienting our entire campaign apparatus into a persuasion effort designed to further elevate the message Cory’s been committed to this entire campaign and reach the voters we need to meet the polling threshold.”

The debate location was moved earlier this month after local labor officials raised concerns about its prior location at the University of California, Los Angeles.