Biden Will Face Off Against Sanders, Harris in Democratic Debate
Biden Will Face Off Against Sanders, Harris in Democratic Debate
(Bloomberg) -- Democratic front-runner Joe Biden will face Senators Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris in the second night of the party’s two-part presidential primary debate in Miami later this month.
Senator Elizabeth Warren will appear in another group of candidates on the first night, June 26, when she will be matched against former Representative Beto O’Rourke and Senators Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar. Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, another hopeful who’s polled near the top of the field, will be on stage with Biden on June 27.
The Democratic National Committee selected 20 of the 23 candidates for the presidential nomination to participate based on polling and campaign contributions. NBC, which is hosting the debate, divided the stages in a random drawing on Friday.
Warren, who has risen to second or third place in many recent polls, is the only top-tier candidate not appearing at the same debate as Biden and Sanders. That could put her at a disadvantage but could also give her a chance to dominate her stage without needing to launch attacks against other candidates. Her campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about her draw.
NBC selected the candidates for each night to ensure a mix of high-polling and low-polling contenders. The split is designed to avoid making one night an all-star debate and the other an undercard. The network said it will determine candidates’ positions on stage based on polling.
The June 26 event will feature:
1. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey
2. Representative Julian Castro of Texas
3. Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York
4. Former Representative John Delaney of Maryland
5. Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii
6. Governor Jay Inslee of Washington
7. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota
8. Former Representative Beto O’Rourke of Texas
9. Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio
10. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts
The June 27 event will feature:
1. Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado
2. Former Vice President Joe Biden
3. Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana
4. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York
5. Senator Kamala Harris of California
6. Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado
7. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont
8. Representative Eric Swalwell of California
9. Spiritual healer Marianne Williamson
10. Entrepreneur Andrew Yang
To qualify for the debates, candidates were required to hit a threshold of 1% in three major polls or collect donations from 65,000 people in at least 20 states. The candidates who didn’t make the cut are Montana Governor Steve Bullock; Wayne Messam, the mayor of Miramar, Florida; and Massachusetts Representative Seth Moulton.
The DNC intended that the rules would be a way to include hopefuls who might have grassroots support but hadn’t yet broken through more widely. That also means each stage will be crowded. Biden, who’s likely to be the central target of his debate stage and possibly the other night, said this week that he was skeptical about the format.
“It’s a little bit of an exaggeration to call it a debate because there’s not really much time,” he said Wednesday in Iowa. “It’s a little confusing, but it’s the right thing for the Democratic Party to do to reach out and give everybody who wants a shot of running a shot.”
The moderators for the two nights will be Jose Diaz-Balart, Savannah Guthrie, Lester Holt, Rachel Maddow and Chuck Todd.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Epstein in Washington at jepstein32@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Max Berley, Laurie Asséo
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