CNN, New York Times Will Host Next Democratic Debate

By Brian Steinberg

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – and The New York Times will co-host and moderate the fourth debate among Democratic Oval Office hopefuls, the Democratic National Committee announced Friday. The event, to be held at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, is scheduled to take place on October 15 – and the following day, if needed.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Erin Burnett will moderate the event, along with Marc Lacey of the New York Times. The DNC intends to hold 12 different primary debates over the course of the 2020 cycle, part of a bid to stoke greater interest from potential voters. This will be CNN’s second debate in the series; NBC News telecast the first, while ABC News and Univision moderated the third, held last night.

The debate will air live on CNN, CNN International, CNN en Español, and stream on the homepages of CNN.com and NYTimes.com. The event will also be made available across mobile apps from both organizations and via satellite and terrestrial radio.

The DNC said candidates must receive 2% or more support in at least four polls and secure at least 130,000 unique donors including 400 donors per state from at least 20 states to qualify to appear during the event.

Eleven candidates have already indicated they can participate: former Vice President Joe Biden; Senator Cory Booker; Mayor Pete Buttigieg; former HUD Secretary Julian Castro; Senator Kamala Harris; Senator Amy Klobuchar; former U.S. Representative Beto O’Rourke; Senator Bernie Sanders; businessman Tom Steyer; Senator Elizabeth Warren; and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.