Democrats set early state primary debates for 2020

by Reid Wilson - 12/12/19 11:22 AM ET

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) will sponsor four presidential debates in key early voting states in January and February, giving candidates a final chance to introduce themselves before the first votes take place.

CNN will air the first debate of the new year at Drake University on Jan. 14 in Des Moines in partnership with the Des Moines Register.{mosads}

Days after Iowans caucus, ABC will host a debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., with WMUR-TV and Apple News. That debate, the eighth of the cycle, will take place Feb. 7.

Two weeks later, on Feb. 19, NBC News and MSNBC will host a debate in Las Vegas, just ahead of that state’s early caucuses. The television networks will partner with The Nevada Independent, a nonprofit news site run by veteran Nevada political reporter Jon Ralston.

And CBS News will host a Feb. 25 debate with the Congressional Black Caucus Institute at the Gaillard Center in Charleston, S.C. The DNC said Twitter would be a partner for the debate.

The DNC did not lay out how candidates would qualify for the upcoming debates. Candidates needed to hit 4 percent in at least four polls recognized by the DNC, or 6 percent in at least two polls conducted in early voting states, and receive donations from at least 200,000 unique donors to qualify for the sixth debate, to be held next week in Los Angeles.

Only seven Democratic candidates hit those criteria: Former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), retired hedge fund manager Tom Steyer and businessman Andrew Yang.

Three other candidates — Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary
Julián Castro — reached the donor threshold without notching enough support in public opinion polls.

Booker’s campaign said Thursday their candidate would kick off a big swing through Iowa next week as his rivals meet in Los Angeles. Gabbard has said she would not appear onstage even if she does reach the polling qualification.

The Iowa debate could pose a problem for the three senators who have qualified if the Senate is engaged in an impeachment trial. The DNC said it was working with the campaigns to build in a potential backup plan if Warren, Klobuchar and Sanders are required to be in the Senate chamber during the initially scheduled debate.