DNC will sanction 6 primary debates

The Democratic National Committee announced Tuesday that they will sanction six presidential debates beginning this fall, giving Hillary Clinton’s challengers a limited number of chances to confront the former secretary of state on the debate stage.

“We’ve always believed that we would have a competitive primary process, and that debates would be an important part of that process,” DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a press release. “Our debate schedule will not only give Democratic voters multiple opportunities to size up the candidates for the nomination side-by-side, but will give all Americans a chance to see a unified Democratic vision of economic opportunity and progress – no matter whom our nominee may be.”


The DNC said a six-debate schedule “is consistent with the precedent set by the DNC during the 2004 and 2008 cycles,” though Clinton and Barack Obama actually met more than two dozen times in 2008.

In order to crack down on other, unsanctioned debates, candidates will have to agree to an exclusivity clause and won’t be eligible to participate in the DNC-backed debates if they appear elsewhere. So far, only independent Sen. Bernie Sanders has joined Clinton in the Democratic field, though former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb are considering running.

Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina will each host a primary debate, the DNC said. Details haven’t yet been set for the six debates, though the DNC says it will seek “diversity of media outlets, moderators and formats.”