The First Democratic Debates Start Tonight: When, How and Who to Watch

The long road to the 2020 presidential election continues with the first Democratic debates on Wednesday and Thursday night.

While most of the candidates in the race have been campaigning for months — if not years, as with President Donald Trump — the debates will offer the first chance for voters to see the Democratic contenders discuss key issues side by side.

Twenty candidates will debate in two groups of 10, one group each night. The lineups were randomly selected.

Not every prospective nominee made the cut: The Democratic National Committee set required minimums for polling or number of donors. Among the candidates who did not qualify are Montana Gov. Steve Bullock; Wayne Messam, a Florida mayor; and Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton.

The two-hour debates begin at 9 p.m. ET on NBC as well as MSNBC and Telemundo, plus NBC’s various websites and social media platforms. The moderators are: José Díaz-Balart, Savannah Guthrie, Lester Holt, Rachel Maddow and Chuck Todd.

Health care and immigration have been key issues in the campaign so far, with polling showing Democratic voters are largely concerned with electability against Trump.

The president, for his part, has targeted few leading candidates, such as Biden and Warren, whom he has given pejorative nicknames. His message to voters has lately focused on the economy, immigration and abortion.

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With more than two dozen notable politicians running, the Democratic field is the biggest it has been since at least 1980, according to Bloomberg. There are also more women running in a single party’s primary than ever: Six women will be on the debate stage.

Wednesday’s debate will include Sens. Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren along with former Texas lawmaker Beto O’Rourke, while Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, who have been running first and second in most polls, respectively, will debate on Thursday.

Also on Thursday are Pete Buttigieg, an Indiana mayor, and Sen. Kamala Harris, both of whom have consistently polled near the top of the group.

Biden, 75, is in front in almost every major poll, including Quinnipiac, Fox News and Politico, according to Real Clear Politics.

But his campaign has not been without controversy. Earlier this year he acknowledged previous behavior that made women feel uncomfortable, such as unwanted back and forehead touching, and said in part: “Social norms are changing. I understand that.”

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With a political career that spans decades, the former senator has also had to address statements he made about working with segregationists during the civil rights movement and apologized for his part in the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Behind Biden are Sens. Sanders and Warren, who have created national profiles with progressive policy proposals such as “Medicare for all,” tuition-free public college and increasing taxation on Wall Street.

Sanders, in an implicit acknowledgment that Biden is in the lead, has drawn contrasts between their political careers, arguing Biden is the more centrist and wrongheaded of the two.

In the average fourth and fifth slots in recent weeks are Buttigieg and Harris.

Buttigieg, also known as “Mayor Pete,” could be the first openly gay president. The 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, he is the youngest candidate and Navy veteran who has eschewed the policy detail favored by Warren to trumpet a message of liberalism that can translate to the Midwest. (Trump’s surprise 2016 victory hinged, in part, on razor-thin margins in Michigan and Wisconsin.)

Harris was elected to the Senate in 2016 but has a long history of public service. The 54-year-old was previously San Francisco’s district attorney and California’s attorney general. Since launching her campaign, she has made headlines proposing legislation to address the U.S. maternity mortality rate, which disproportionately affects black women, and to institute new state oversight of national banks.