Posted August 28, 2019 | by KimS | in 2020Presidential, DemDaily, Democratic Party, Resource

DemDaily: Making The Stage

August 28, 2019

The deadline for qualifying for the Democratic National Committee's third Democratic primary debate is tonight and, although yet to be formally announced, participants have been narrowed to one night of ten contenders.

The televised debate, to be held in Houston, Texas on September 12th, and hosted by ABC, is one of 12 official party debates over the course of the 2020 presidential cycle.

The first debate, hosted by NBC and also aired on Telemundo, was held in Miami, Florida June 26th and 27th. It broke records with 15.3 million viewer tuning in the first night, and 18.1 million the second night.

The second debate, hosted by CNN July 30th and 31st in Detroit, Michigan, drew 8.7 television viewers the first night and 10.7 million the second.

With the top tier sharing the stage together next month for the first time, however, those numbers are expected to increase.

How It Works
The first and second debates fell under the DNC's new debate requirements, announced in February, of meeting a polling threshold of 1% or a fundraising requirement of at least 65,000 individual donors.

For the third and fourth debates in the Fall, however, the DNC upped the ante, automatically narrowing the field.

Qualifiers must meet both the new polling requirement of now 2% in four major polls, and the grassroots fundraising qualifications, now doubled to 130,000.

Unlike the first debate, which spread a large field of 20 candidates over two consecutive nights, the third is narrowed one night of ten.

Candidates will have one minute and 15 seconds to answer questions, and 45 seconds for rebuttals.

Not in the Debate: Billionaire activist Tom Steyer and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who were next in line with 3 and 2 qualifying polls respectively, but not enough to make the grade.

Also absent from the stage: Senator Michael Bennet (CO), Mayor Bill de Blasio (NY), Governor Steve Bullock (MT), former Congressman John Delaney (MD), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), Mayor Wayne Messam (FL), Congressman Tim Ryan (OH), former Congressman Joe Sestak (PA) and author Marianne Williamson (CA).

Out of the Race: Over the last month five candidates have ended their campaigns: former Senator Mike Gravel (AK), former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee, Congressman Seth Moulton (MA) and Congressman Eric Swalwell (CA).

THIRD DNC PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY DEBATE
September 12, 2019

Date	Thursday, September 12th
Location	Houston, Texas. Texas Southern University
Candidates	Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O'Rourke, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Andrew Yang.
Networks	ABC News, in partnership with Univision
Moderators	ABC anchors George Stephanopoulos and David Muir, ABC News correspondent Linsey Davis and Univision anchor Jorge Ramos.
Live Streaming	ABC News Live, ABCNews website and apps, as well as Hulu Live, The Roku Channel, and Facebook Watch. DNC Website
Qualifications	*1) Meet a 2% polling threshold in at least four separate national or early primary state polls in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and/or Nevada, and* 2) Receive donations from 130,000 individual donors and a minimum of 400 unique donors in at least 20 states**