Former US Vice President Joe Biden will face California Senator Kamala Harris in a CNN-hosted Democratic presidential debate set for 31 July, while Vermont’s Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren are scheduled to appear together one day earlier, on 30 July on the same network, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
The debates were matched so that the four top-polling candidates from the Democratic Party could be spread evenly across two nights, avoiding the “first tier” and “second tier” situation Republicans faced in 2016.
Sanders and Warren will be joined by South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former congressman Beto O’Rourke, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, former Maryland congressman John Delaney, and author Marianne Williamson.
Biden and Harris will be joined by former housing and human services secretary Julian Castro, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Mayor Bill De Blasio, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.
Four candidates - Rep. Seth Moulton (Mass.), former congressman Joe Sestak (Pa.), Miramar, FL Mayor Wayne Messam and billionaire Tom Steyer, who entered the race last week - failed to meet the popularity requirements set for these particular debates.
In September, the requirements will be doubled, with candidates required to meet both polling and donor qualifications. There will be no debates in August, the report says.
