News broke on Tuesday that the labor dispute which had threatened the December Democratic debate earlier this week has been resolved so the event is not canceled and will go forth as planned. Here is everything you need to know about the sixth debate, which is being held at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and is sponsored by PBS NewsHour and Politico.
PBS NewsHour/POLITICO Democratic Debate (6th Debate)
Date: Thursday, December 19, 2019
Time: 8 pm ET (7 pm CT, 6 pm MT, 5 pm PT)
Watch On: PBS, CNN
Location: Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles
Sponsors: PBS NewsHour, POLITICO
Moderators: PBS NewsHour anchor and managing editor Judy Woodruff, Politico chief political correspondent Tim Alberta, PBS NewsHour senior national correspondent Amna Nawaz, and PBS NewsHour White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor
THURSDAY: Your questions, answered.
Hear from 7 of the Democratic presidential candidates during the last #DemDebate of the year.
Join us on Dec. 19 for the PBS NewsHour / @politico Democratic Debate on Facebook, online and on your local @PBS station: https://t.co/mMvH3YeH3r pic.twitter.com/V0HEUYPr23
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) December 17, 2019
How to watch
The debate will air live on every local PBS station and will be simulcast on CNN, CNN International, and CNN en Español.
On TV: PBS, CNN, CNN International
Live Stream: Election Central, PBS NewsHour, PBS.org, Politico.com, CNN.com
Satellite Radio: SiriusXM Channels 116, 454, 795
Other: Politico’s Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter pages
We will have a live stream available on Thursday as well as updated links.
December Debate Candidates
There are seven candidates set for the debate stage in Los Angeles:
| Num | Candidate | Polls AND Donors | Donors Only | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joe Biden | ✓ | ||||
| 2 | Pete Buttigieg | ✓ | ||||
| 3 | Amy Klobuchar | ✓ | ||||
| 4 | Bernie Sanders | ✓ | ||||
| 5 | Tom Steyer | ✓ | ||||
| 6 | Elizabeth Warren | ✓ | ||||
| 7 | Andrew Yang | ✓ | ||||
| Not Qualified | ||||||
| 8 | Cory Booker | ✓ | ||||
| 9 | Tulsi Gabbard | ✓ | ||||
| 10 | Julian Castro | |||||
| 11 | Michael Bennet | |||||
| 12 | John Delaney | |||||
| 13 | Marianne Williamson | |||||
| 14 | Mike Bloomberg | |||||
Candidates needed at least 200,000 unique donors, with a minimum of 800 donors in 20 different states, U.S. territories or the District of Columbia. Democratic presidential hopefuls also had to reach either 4% in at least four national or early-state polls, or reach 6% in two early-state polls.
Sen. Kamala Harris had also qualified for the debate, though she dropped out of the presidential race early in December.
Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard was on the verge of qualifying, lacking only one poll, though she already said she would not attend the debate even if she ended up qualifying.
Debate Format
There will be no candidate opening statements. Questioning will begin at the immediate start of the debate. Candidates will have 1 minute and 15 seconds for responses to moderator questions, and 45 seconds for follow-up answers or rebuttals to other candidates. Candidates will receive one minute each at the end of the debate to make a closing statement which will be delivered in reverse polling order from lowest to highest.
There will be three commercial breaks, totaling eleven minutes, during the broadcast, which spans a total of three hours.
What to Watch For
It’s almost a certainty that the opening topic will be the impeachment battle in the House of Representatives against President Trump. At the November debate, this topic opened the night but aside from every candidate expressing their belief that the President should be impeached, moderators quickly moved on to other topics. How much time will the moderators and candidates spend discussing impeachment on Thursday still remains to be seen.
With fewer candidates on stage than prior debates, each candidate will inevitably get more speaking time. This can create more opportunities to excel or to fail in some way by not connecting with the audience or not fully answering a question. With fewer candidates vying for time, it’ll be more obvious when candidates evade or fail to fully answer.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg is still having part of his moment in the light and remains a strong contender in early states. He will have a lot riding on this debate. Sen. Bernie Sanders has been putting up some eye-popping poll numbers in places like California and Iowa lately so he too will be one to watch. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has struggled as of late and it’ll be interesting to see if any of the “moderate block” tries to knock her down further on Thursday.
Just days ago, every candidate appearing on stage signed on to a letter from Sen. Cory Booker asking the DNC to expand the debate rules and allow more candidates back on stage. It will be interesting to see if this letter comes up for discussion and how the candidates decide to handle the matter.
We will have more coverage on Thursday including the live stream embed right here on Election Central.
