Todd Spangler

Detroit Free Press

WASHINGTON — Fox News Channel will host its third Republican presidential primary debate in Detroit on March 3, five days before the state's primary, the network announced.

A spokesperson for the network said the venue has not yet been set and no contract for one has been signed. The two-hour debate will be televised live; Fox News' Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace will return as moderators.

Debate criteria for candidate entry will be announced closer to the date, the network said. No other details were immediately available but the Republican National Committee was expected to handle arrangements.

Word of the debate comes a day after Democrats confirmed that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are set to debate March 6 in Flint, where national attention has been focused on lead contamination in residents' water.

Clinton, Sanders set for debate in Flint

Michigan's primary is expected to be a significant contest this year, coming a week after more than a dozen states, most of them in the South, vote March 1 and a week before Florida and Ohio vote in another big round of states March 15.

"Michigan will play a pivotal role this cycle, both during the primary and general election. It’s great to see a debate happening in our state,” said Michigan Republican Party Chairman Ronna Romney McDaniel.

The FOX News debate in Detroit will be the first presidential debate held in southeastern Michigan since November 2011, when Republicans debated at Oakland University in Auburn Hills.

At the last FOX News debate Jan. 28 in Des Moines, Iowa, businessman Donald Trump, who was leading in the polls, refused to participate because of a dispute with the network.

Contact Todd Spangler: 703-854-8947 or tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @tsspangler.