20 Democratic candidates qualify for 1st presidential primary debates
Washington: The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has announced the 20 candidates, including former Vice President Joe Biden, who have qualified for the party’s first presidential primary debates.
The candidate list, released by the committee on Twitter on Thursday, also includes Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, California Senator Kamala Harris, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard, reports Xinhua news agency.
The DNC requires candidates to either have at least 1 per cent support in three qualifying polls or receive donations from at least 65,000 unique donors.
Most of the qualified have met both thresholds.
Hosted by NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo, the two-night debates will take place on June 26 and 27 at the Adrienne Arsht Centre for the Performing Arts in Miami.
The event will be aired live across all three networks from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.
NBC News plans on Friday to hold a random drawing assigning 10 candidates to each night.
It is the first of a dozen primary debates the DNC has planned.