The CNN/New York Times Democratic presidential debate in October will occur on one night, the Democratic National Committee told campaigns Friday.
“To address several inquiries we have received we are writing to let you know that, pending a final decision after the certification deadline, it is the intention of the DNC and our media partners to hold the October debate over one night on Tuesday October 15th,” the DNC wrote in an email Friday morning.
The party’s fourth sanctioned primary debate will air live at 8 p.m. ET from the campus of Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, with CNN anchors Erin Burnett and Anderson Cooper and New York Times national editor Marc Lacey serving as moderators.
Twelve candidates have said they surpassed the polling and contribution thresholds outlined by the DNC to receive an invitation to participate in the debate: former Vice President Joe Biden, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, California Sen. Kamala Harris, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, businessman Tom Steyer, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and businessman Andrew Yang.
At this time, no other candidate appears close to reaching the polling and fundraising thresholds by the October 1 deadline. To receive an invitation to the debate, candidates need a to meet a 2% polling threshold in four DNC-approved polls and at least 130,000 unique donors, including 400 donors per state from at least 20 states, to qualify.
For the first two Democratic debates, 20 qualifying candidates were randomly divided into two groups of 10, with each group debating on separate nights. The party’s most recent debate in September featured 10 candidates debating on a single night. A DNC official said several factors were taken into account in deciding to focus on one night.
“Our goal has always been to expand viewership, and we also believe that one night worked well for this last debate,” said the official, speaking on background.
This is the second DNC-sanctioned debate CNN will broadcast in 2019. It hosted the July DNC debates in Detroit.
The debate will air exclusively on CNN, CNN International, CNN en Español, and stream on CNN.com’s homepage and NYTimes.com’s homepage. In addition, the debate will be available across mobile devices via CNN’s and New York Times’ apps for iOS and Android, via CNNgo apps for Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Chromecast and Android TV, SiriusXM Channels 116, 454, 795, the Westwood One Radio Network and National Public Radio.
