John Shinkle/POLITICO 2020 Elections Miami will host first Democratic 2020 debates

The Democratic National Committee will host the first presidential debates of the 2020 election in Miami on June 26 and 27, the committee announced Thursday.

The two-night event, to be broadcast on NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo, will be the first chance for candidates to square off against one another on stage before a national audience. The lineups for the debates will be chosen at random and announced at a later date, the DNC said,


The crowded pool of Democrats fighting for the chance to challenge President Donald Trump has grown to more than a dozen since the beginning of the year, with more candidates expected to join the race in the coming weeks.

Not every candidate will be allowed to take the stage in Miami, however. The DNC announced in February that a candidate must receive donations from at least 65,000 donors in at least 20 states and poll at 1 percent or more in at least three polls to qualify for a spot on the debate stage. The randomized debate lineup will contrast the Democratic matchups with the debates hosted by the Republican Party in 2016, when the crowded GOP field was divided into an upper and lower tier based on polling.

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Miami was among the top contenders to host the 2020 Democratic National Convention, which was instead awarded to Milwaukee.

“Throughout every step of this process, we’ve focused on empowering the grassroots and ensuring that we hold the most transparent, inclusive, and fair primary in our party’s history,” DNC Chair Tom Perez said in a statement Thursday. “I’m thrilled that we’ll get the chance to showcase our terrific candidates to voters in Florida and across the nation.”