WASHINGTON, D.C.—Recently, the impeachment inquiry hearings into President Donald Trump have taken over U.S. political news. But they aren’t the only big televised U.S. political events this week. Wednesday evening at 9 p.m., the major candidates for the Democratic nomination for president will share a stage for a debate.

For anyone tuning in hoping for a break from the Trump news with some news from those hoping to replace him, here’s a primer on the state of the primary race.

When is the vote?

The U.S. general presidential election is in just under a year, on Nov. 3, 2020, when voters will choose between the Republican nominee — presumably Donald Trump — and the Democratic nominee.

There will be many votes before then, however, to select the Democratic nominee through a process of primaries or caucuses held in each state. The first of these, the Iowa caucus where people gather in meetings to choose which candidate to support, will be held on Feb. 3, 2020. The first primary election is in New Hampshire, on Feb. 11, 2020. The primaries then proceed for months until early June, with the largest single-day voting taking place March 3, when 14 states, plus American Samoa and Democrats abroad, all hold primaries.

The party will officially choose its candidate at its convention in Milwaukee July 13-16.

Who’s running?

Even though 10 candidates have dropped out of the race, there are still a whole lot of hopefuls left in the race:

Former vice-president Joe Biden; Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet; New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker; Montana Gov. Steve Bullock; South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg; former housing secretary Julian Castro; former Maryland representative John Delaney; Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard; California Sen. Kamala Harris; Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar; Miramar, Florida Mayor Wayne Messam; former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick; Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders; former Pennsylvania representative Joe Sestak; hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer; Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren; self-help guru Marianne Williamson; and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang.

Former New York mayor and billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg has indicated he may enter the race.

That’s a lot of people. Will all of them be onstage at the debate?

No. The Democratic National Committee has a criteria for qualifying for televised debates involving polling and fundraising performance. Only Biden, Booker, Buttigieg, Gabbard, Harris, Klobuchar, Sanders, Steyer, Warren, and Yang will participate.

So who’s expected to win the nomination?

It’s too early to tell, but four candidates have broken from the pack to consistently lead in polls. Two of these represent what is thought of as the progressive wing of the party, Warren and Sanders, and two represent the more moderate centrist element of the party, Biden and Buttigieg. Harris, Bloomberg and Yang are the only other candidates (or potential candidates) often polling above three per cent in recent national polls.

Biden and Warren have typically led national polls. Buttigieg, a 37-year-old openly gay navy reserve veteran who typically polls in single digits nationally, has surged into the lead in Iowa which will caucus first and may therefore give him a boost. Sanders still has a strong and enthusiastic support base.

Deval Patrick only entered the race within the past week, and Bloomberg has still not formally entered, so their strength is hard to evaluate. Both come from the moderate, centrist wing of the party and are thought to be entering because of the sense that Biden’s support hasn’t been growing and that he’s prone to gaffes, and that Buttigieg may not be experienced enough to take up the mantle given his youth and that his highest elected office is leading a city of 100,000 people.

What are the major issues?

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There are a lot of them, but two major themes have emerged so far in the Democratic race.

Both Warren and Sanders are running on “Medicare for All,” a plan put forward by Sanders in the Senate for a single-payer universal health-care system. This single issue has occupied much of the time in previous debates, with the other major candidates opposing it in favour of what Buttigieg calls “Medicare for All Who Want It” which would preserve the current private insurance system but allow those without employer-provided insurance to opt into the public Medicare system. Much of the debate has focused on the cost of a Canadian-style single-payer system, and since the last debate Elizabeth Warren has released her plan to fund her version of the plan — a budget estimation that might be expected to be the subject of much debate on Wednesday.

The centrist candidates Biden and Buttigieg have focused on the much less tangible concept of bringing the U.S. together as a nation after the divisive leadership of President Trump. In pitching themselves as the vehicle for this national healing, they contrast themselves with the more confrontational approach of Warren and Sanders to taxing the rich and attacking corporate power.

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