Democratic presidential primary debate (October 15, 2019)
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Date: November 3, 2020 |
 Donald Trump Joe Biden Howie Hawkins Jo Jorgensen
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The Democratic Party held a presidential primary debate on October 15, 2019. It was the fourth of 11 Democratic primary debates that took place during the 2020 presidential election.
Candidates had until October 1, 2019, to qualify by reaching a grassroots fundraising threshold of 130,000 unique contributors and a polling threshold of 2 percent support or more in four eligible polls. For the full list of requirements, click here.
The debate was limited to 20 candidates. The following 12 candidates qualified for the debate:
Gabbard and Steyer were the only candidates invited to the fourth Democratic primary debate who had not qualified for the September 2019 debate. With 12 candidates participating, it was the most candidates on stage in a single presidential primary debate. Republicans held the previous record with 11 candidates on stage during the September 2015 debate.[1]
HIGHLIGHTS
Debate overview
Video and transcript
By the numbers
Candidate highlights
This section includes highlights for each presidential candidate with a focus on policy. The following paraphrased statements were compiled from the The Washington Post debate transcript. A candidate's opponents are generally not mentioned in his or her summary unless there was a significant exchange between them.
- Joe Biden said Congress had no choice but to proceed with the impeachment of Donald Trump since he was not cooperating with the U.S. House investigation. Biden called Trump the most corrupt president in United States history. Biden said he and his son, Hunter Biden, had not committed any wrongdoing related to Ukraine. He said George Washington considered foreign interference in elections the greatest threat to America. On healthcare, Biden called for building on the Affordable Care Act and adding a public option. He said Medicare for All would cost at least $30 trillion over 10 years and questioned the tax increases necessary to pay for it. On the economy, Biden said he would raise the capital gains tax to 39.5 percent. He also criticized corporations that used profits to buy back stock rather than invest in employees. Biden said he would not have withdrawn troops from northern Syria or Iraq and would work to protect the Kurds. He said Turkey was the real issue and he would discuss the consequences of Turkish actions with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Biden also said that he was the only person on stage who had spent extensive time with Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin. On gun policy, Biden said he had successfully taken on the National Rifle Association twice on assault weapons. He called for requiring gun owners to register AR-15s and assault weapons and removing the liability exemption for gun manufacturers. Biden said his age and experience would be an asset in the White House and that he would be ready to lead on day one. Biden said Roe v. Wade should be codified into law. He opposed court packing on the Supreme Court. He also said he would fight to prevent any hearing for a Trump-nominated justice during the election year, as was done during Barack Obama’s presidency. Biden said he was the only candidate on stage who had accomplished something big, including passing the Violence Against Women Act and the Affordable Care Act. When asked to share a surprising friendship in his life, Biden discussed his friendship with Republican John McCain. Biden was the second-most active participant in the debate, speaking for 16.5 minutes.
- Cory Booker said the impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump needed to be about patriotism rather than partisanship. He also said it was offensive that Joe Biden had to defend himself against what he called Trump’s lies. Booker said the healthcare debate must include discussion of women’s reproductive issues and that women should be able to control their own bodies. On the economy, Booker said that raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour would be more effective than a universal basic income of $1,000 per month. Booker said he wanted to focus on improving trade deals, strengthening unions, and ending corporate tax incentives that move jobs out of the country. Booker cautioned that his fellow candidates needed to be careful about how they talked about each other and the issues. He said Democrats needed to talk about addressing the violence of child poverty and defining what they were for rather than against. On foreign policy, Booker said the United States could not abandon the world stage and allow Russia to grow in influence. Booker criticized Trump’s policy in the Middle East, saying Trump gave ISIS a foothold and increased U.S. troop presence with Saudi Arabia while it was unjustly engaged in Yemen. Booker said he felt a sense of urgency on gun violence and said the politicians needed to follow where people already were on the issue, including supporting a gun licensing program. On antitrust issues, Booker said tech companies needed regulation on both anti-competitive and anti-democratic practices. Booker said new abortion legislation in states like Alabama and Ohio was not only restricting abortion but also criminalizing poverty since the laws disproportionately affected low-income women. He said he would create an Office of Reproductive Freedom and Reproductive Rights in the White House. When asked to share a surprising friendship in his life, Booker said he entered the U.S. Senate with the intent to make friendships across the aisle. He said he attended Bible study in the office of Republican Jim Inhofe and had tried to invite every Republican senator to dinner. Booker was the eighth-most active participant in the debate, speaking for 11.8 minutes.
- Pete Buttigieg said Republicans were enabling Donald Trump by not supporting a bipartisan impeachment inquiry. He said the United States was dangerously polarized and that he was running for president to turn the page and unify the country. On healthcare, Buttigieg said Elizabeth Warren did not explain how she would pay for Medicare for All. He advocated what he calls a Medicare for All Who Want It program, which he said would not increase taxes on the middle class. Buttigieg said the program would be affordable for everyone because of subsidies. He also criticized calls to end private insurance. On the economy, Buttigieg said he supported a wealth tax but questioned how Democrats would reach the industrial Midwest in the way Trump had. Buttigieg criticized Trump’s policy in Syria and said it was undermining the honor and safety of soldiers. He said the United States’ credibility needed to be restored before it was too late. Buttigieg also said the United States should not abandon the international stage. Three examples Buttigieg gave were Trump’s lack of response to the Hong Kong protests, Turkey’s actions, and the killing of a journalist by Saudia Arabia. On gun violence, Buttigieg criticized Beto O’Rourke’s mandatory buyback proposal. He said the country could not wait for purity tests to pass some form of gun legislation and that Democrats needed to unify against the National Rifle Association. Buttigieg said he wanted to depoliticize the Supreme Court and listed implementing term limits, rotating justices off of the appellate bench, and expanding the court to 15 members as possible solutions. Buttigieg said he did not think Trump was an aberration. He criticized the argument that immigration and secondary education reform were not acceptable unless they included policies like decriminalizing border crossings or providing free college for the wealthy. When asked to share a surprising friendship in his life, Buttigieg pointed to his friendships in the military with people from different generations, races, and politics. Buttigieg was the sixth-most active participant in the debate, speaking for 13 minutes.
- Julián Castro said impeachment was not a distraction from economic and domestic issues and that Donald Trump should be impeached and removed from office. On the economy, Castro said that we need to address communities that are being impacted by automation. He said he would be willing to pilot a universal basic income program. He said the United States should focus on sparking job opportunities and investing in infrastructure and universal childcare. Castro said his experience growing up in a single-parent household informed his view on a wealth tax. He advocated an inheritance tax, in addition to a wealth and equality tax. Castro said Trump must be booted from the White House. He said this was how the United States could regain the world's trust. He pointed to Trump’s policy in Syria and withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal as examples of bad policies. He said he would increase pressure on Syria to stop aggression and support stronger sanctions. Castro criticized mandatory gun buyback proposals because he said they could not be defined or implemented without going door to door. He mentioned the police shooting death of Atatiana Jefferson in her home. Castro said police officers did not need another reason to go door to door in certain communities and that police violence was gun violence. On corporate regulation, he said he was in favor of criminal penalties for drug company executives and Wall Street executives. Castro criticized Amazon’s business practices and said he would crack down on monopolistic trade practices as president. Castro opposed increasing the size of the Supreme Court. He said he supports term limits and cycling judges from appellate courts. He also said Roe V. Wade should be codified into law and the Hyde Amendment repealed because abortion should not only be available to people with money. When asked to share a surprising friendship in his life, Castro described his friendships with older people and teachers. He also said we should be both kind and hold people accountable for their past actions. Castro was the tenth-most active participant in the debate, speaking for 8.4 minutes.
- Tulsi Gabbard said an impeachment process driven by hyperpartisan interests would divide the country. She said she supports an inquiry because of Donald Trump’s phone call with the president of Ukraine. On the economy, Gabbard said people were afraid of how automation would affect their jobs and everyday lives. She said bad trade deals have also caused fear. Gabbard said a universal basic income was a good idea to provide people with security and freedom. On foreign policy, Gabbard said the conflict between Turkey and the Kurds was the consequence of the United States’ regime change war in Syria. She said Trump and those who have supported the war in Syria since 2011 had blood on their hands. She also said news outlets like the New York Times and CNN were smearing her and other veterans’ for opposing the war in Syria. Gabbard said she would end regime change wars by eliminating draconian sanctions and stopping support for terrorists like Al Qaeda in Syria. Gabbard questioned what Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg would do to stop regime change wars.Gabbard said the moderators should be asking who is fit to serve as commander-in-chief. She said Trump’s policy in Syria showed an unfit president and highlighted her foreign policy experience in Congress and as a soldier in the Army National Guard. Gabbard said abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. She said she would codify Roe v. Wade into law and make third-trimester abortions an option only in cases of danger to the mother. When asked to share a surprising friendship in her life, Gabbard discussed the meaning of the Hawaiian word aloha and described her friendship with Republican Trey Gowdy. Gabbard was the eleventh-most active participant in the debate, speaking for 8.4 minutes.
- Kamala Harris said she supports impeachment and called Donald Trump the most corrupt and unpatriotic president the country has ever had. Harris said the healthcare debate needed to include more discussion of women’s access to reproductive healthcare. She criticized state legislation restricting abortion because she said it would lead to the deaths of women, particularly poor women and women of color. On tax policy, Harris advocated giving families who make less than $100,000 a tax credit of up to $6,000 per year. Harris criticized Trump’s foreign policy in Syria and said Russia, Iran, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and ISIS were winning because of his actions. On gun violence, Harris said she would give Congress 100 days to produce legislation before she used executive action to implement a comprehensive background check requirement and ban the import of assault weapons. Harris called pharmaceutical companies involved in the opioid crisis high-level dope dealers and supported criminal penalties against pharmaceutical executives. She said the United States needed to update its election infrastructure. Harris disagreed with the proposition that breaking up tech companies would make the spread of disinformation worse and called on Elizabeth Warren to join her in calling for the suspension of Trump’s Twitter account. Harris said she would use preclearance requirements to have the Department of Justice review state legislation on abortion for compliance with Roe v. Wade and the Constitution before it goes into effect. When asked to share a surprising friendship in her life, Harris named Republican Rand Paul and described their work together to end the money bail system. Harris was the seventh-most active participant in the debate, speaking for 12.4 minutes.
- Amy Klobuchar said Democrats could both impeach Donald Trump and address economic issues. She said Trump put his private interests before workers’ and farmer’s interests. On healthcare, Klobuchar called for adding a public option to the Affordable Care Act rather than adopting Medicare for All or eliminating private health insurance. She also said long-term care insurance should be easier to get and Medicaid strengthened to address the healthcare needs of the aging population. Klobuchar said she was open to a wealth tax. She proposed repealing portions of the Republican tax bill, including changes to the corporate tax rate and international tax rate. She also disputed Elizabeth Warren’s assertion that other candidates wanted to protect billionaires and emphasized that there was not just one approach to solve issues. Klobuchar criticized Trump’s foreign policy approach to Turkey and Syria and said the United States needed to continue with humanitarian aid and work with allies to make Turkey stop their military action in Syria. She also said social media companies need to stop running paid political ads without disclosing their source. Klobuchar said the discussion on gun violence should focus on universal background checks, preventing domestic abusers from getting guns, and making it easier for police to vet gun owners. She also said she wanted to implement an assault weapons ban and put a limitation on gun magazines. On the opioid crisis, Klobuchar said drug manufacturers should pay a two cents per milligram tax on opioids to pay for treatment and mental health issues. Klobuchar advocated reducing the consolidation of companies and pointed to her legal experience with the telecommunications industry and work on the Antitrust Committee. She said officials needed to be talking about pro-competition policies. On abortion, Klobuchar said she would codify Roe v. Wade into law and support federal funding of Planned Parenthood. She said she had bold ideas to win heartland states and had experience winning in red rural districts. When asked to share a surprising friendship in her life, Klobuchar discussed her friendship with Republican John McCain. Klobuchar was the third-most active participant in the debate, speaking for 13.2 minutes.
- Beto O'Rourke said that if Donald Trump was not held accountable, the country would have failed every service member who sacrificed his or her life to defend the Constitution and country. On the economy, O’Rourke said workers could be treated more fairly through better trade deals. He said that if we trade with Mexico, Mexican workers should also be allowed to join unions. O’Rourke called for investment in public education and apprenticeship programs. He said a wealth tax was part of the solution to address income inequality, but added that preventing tax increases for families making less than $250,000 was also important to him. O’Rourke said he would reveal what the United States knows about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s corruption and freeze Putin’s bank accounts to hold Russia accountable. He said the country should renew alliances and invest in diplomacy and the State Department. On gun violence, O’Rourke said he would seek to ban the sale of AR-15s and AK-47s. He also said he expected Americans to follow the law if a mandatory buyback program was issued. He said gun owners brandishing these weapons would have their weapons taken but he would not use a door-to-door enforcement method. O’Rourke said Pete Buttigieg’s criticism of mandatory buyback programs as a shiny object was a slap in the face to survivors of gun violence and activists. On the opioid crisis, O’Rourke said decriminalizing opioids was part of the solution. He also said there was an opportunity to prescribe marijuana instead of opioids in the healthcare system. O’Rourke said social media platforms should be treated as publishers rather than utilities and there should be tough and transparent rules regulating them. He said personal information, privacy, and data should also be protected. O’Rourke also discussed his work to reduce the wait time for mental health provided at the V.A. and how he won more votes than any other Democrat in Texas. When asked to share a surprising friendship in his life, O’Rourke described his cross-country road trip and immigration work with Republican Will Hurd. O’Rourke was the fourth-most active participant in the debate, speaking for 13.2 minutes.
- Bernie Sanders called Donald Trump the most corrupt president in the history of the country and said he expected the House would find him guilty of violating the Constitution's Emoluments Clause. He said it would be a mistake if the American people thought Democrats were focused on impeaching Trump rather than dealing with healthcare, climate change, and the working class. Sanders said under Medicare for All, premiums, copayments, and deductibles would be gone. He said the majority of people would save money on their healthcare bills but taxes would increase, most significantly for the wealthy. He said the current healthcare system was dysfunctional and cruel and the Democratic Party needed the courage to stand up to the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. On the economy, Sanders said the Green New Deal could create up to 20 million jobs, including 15 million jobs to rebuild infrastructure. He said wealth inequality was a moral and economic outrage and that the wealthiest, which he defined as the top 0.1 percent, should pay more taxes. On foreign policy, Sanders said Turkey was not an ally and criticized Trump’s policy reversal on standing with the Kurds in Syria. Sanders said pharmaceutical profits from opioids were evidence of why a political revolution was necessary. He also said he was in good health following his heart attack and planned to campaign vigorously across the country. On antitrust issues, Sanders said the country needed a president willing to take on monopolies in the banking, media, and agribusiness sectors. Sanders criticized Joe Biden’s record, saying he pushed for the Iraq War, a bankruptcy bill that harmed middle-class families, and trade agreements like NAFTA and the PNTR. He said his approach was more likely to beat Trump. He said people do not want the same old policies but rather need to be inspired and excited. When asked to share a surprising friendship in his life, Sanders described his political work with Republicans John McCain and Mike Lee. Sanders was the fifth-most active participant in the debate, speaking for 13.1 minutes.
- Tom Steyer said he began the Need to Impeach movement in 2017 because it was the will of the American people to impeach Donald Trump. Steyer said he was the first candidate to propose a wealth tax and that he would repeal the Republican tax cut for corporations and the wealthy. He said the minimum wage has not risen for 40 years if one considers inflation and worker productivity gains. On foreign policy, Steyer criticized the Trump administration’s America First policy. He said it was a disaster in Syria and in how the U.S. responded to Russia attacking American democracy. He also said climate change was an international crisis that required the United States to work with other countries. Steyer said resources needed to be moved to address the opioid crisis. Steyer said drug companies and gun manufacturers were buying the government. To break what he called the corporate stranglehold on government, Steyer recommended term limits, a national referendum, ending the concept that corporations have the same political rights as people, and making it easier to vote. Steyer said that monopolies needed to be broken up or regulated. He highlighted his professional experience building a multibillion-dollar business and said he could show Trump was a fraud as a businessperson and steward of the American economy. When asked to share a surprising friendship in his life, Steyer named environmental justice activist Deanna Berry. Steyer said that his grandfather prosecuted Nazis at the Nuremberg trials and that he was inspired to address the threat of climate change and corporations. Steyer was the least active participant in the debate, speaking for 7.2 minutes.
- Elizabeth Warren said she supported impeachment one year before the election because the issue was bigger than politics. She said it set a precedent not only for Trump but also for future presidents. Warren said her proposal for Medicare for All would lead to costs going down for the middle class and going up for the wealthy and big corporations. She criticized Pete Buttigieg’s Medicare for All Who Want It proposal, saying it would be Medicare for All Who Can Afford It. She also discussed her academic research and said healthcare was one of the principal reasons people go bankrupt. Warren disputed that automation was a principal reason people were losing jobs. She said job loss was the result of bad trade policies and large corporations that had no loyalty to American workers. She said her plan to create accountable capitalism would require 40 percent of a company’s board of directors to be selected by employees. She said unions should be given more power to negotiate. On the economy, Warren said the closest policy to a universal basic income is Social Security. She said she would extend the solvency of Social Security by decades and add $200 to each payment. She also defended her wealth tax proposal by saying taxing income would not be as effective as taxing wealth. She said the wealthy benefited from work, infrastructure, and services provided by the public. On foreign policy, Warren said troops should leave the Middle East through a negotiated solution because there was no military solution in the region. Warren said the filibuster in the Senate needs to be repealed to pass gun legislation. On her fitness to run for office, Warren said she would out-work, out-organize, and outlast any candidate. On antitrust issues, Warren compared Amazon to Walmart and described it as a far larger monopoly. She said large companies that dominate tech, pharmaceuticals, and oil need to be broken up. She also called campaign finance the elephant in the room since these companies fund campaigns. Warren said the abortion policy in Roe v. Wade should be passed through Congress rather than left to the Supreme Court. Warren described her idea for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and work to establish it in the Obama administration as one of her accomplishments. When asked to share a surprising friendship in her life, Warren described her relationship with her Republican brothers and George H.W. Bush's solicitor general Charles Fried. Warren was the most active participant in the debate, speaking for 23 minutes.
- Andrew Yang said he supported the impeachment of Donald Trump but cautioned that it would not solve the problems of the Fourth Industrial Revolution which led to his election. On the economy, Yang said he was for the spirit of a federal jobs guarantee but questioned whether most Americans would want to work for the federal government. He also said it would not take into account caretakers in the home like his wife. He advocated instead a universal basic income of $1,000 per month. Yang disagreed with Elizabeth Warren about the effect of automation and said job loss to automation was a reality. He also criticized wealth tax proposals and said they had failed in Germany, France, Denmark, and Sweden because of implementation issues. He recommended a value-added tax as an alternative. On foreign policy, Yang said Russian interference in American elections was a reflection of 21st century threats. He said he would pull the country forward on technology issues, including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, climate change, loose nuclear material, and material drones. Yang said the opioid crisis was a disease of capitalism run amok and criticized the $600 million fine against Purdue Pharmaceuticals as too small. He advocated decriminalizing opiates for personal use and opening safe consumption and injection sites. On antitrust issues, Yang said competition would not solve all problems and that breaking up big tech companies would not revive small businesses. He said using a 20th century antitrust framework would not solve 21st century problems, including the levels of anxiety and depression coincident with new technology and social media use. Yang also said people should claim data as their property, which he said was worth more than oil. When asked to share a surprising friendship in his life, Yang named a Trump supporter and truck driver named Fred. Yang said the country needed to be taken forward, rather than to the left or the right. Yang was the ninth-most active participant in the debate, speaking for 9.6 minutes.
Qualifications
On May 29, 2019, the Democratic National Committee released the criteria for qualifying for the debate via polling and fundraising.[2] The DNC clarified the qualification period in August 2019, saying it would run from June 28 through two weeks before the debate.[3]
Polling criteria
A candidate must receive 2 percent support or more in four national or early state polls—Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and/or Nevada—publicly released between June 28, 2019, and two weeks before the debate. Any candidate’s four qualifying polls must be conducted by different organizations, or if by the same organization, must be in different geographical areas. Qualifying polls are limited to the following organizations and institutions:
- Associated Press
- ABC News
- CBS News
- CNN
- Des Moines Register
- Fox News
- Monmouth University
- NBC News
- New York Times
- National Public Radio
- Quinnipiac University
- University of New Hampshire
- Wall Street Journal
- USA Today
- Washington Post
- Winthrop University
Grassroots fundraising
Candidates must also provide verifiable evidence that they reached the following fundraising thresholds:
- Donations from at least 130,000 unique donors; and
- A minimum of 400 unique donors per state in at least 20 states.
Discussion
Several candidates criticized the new debate criteria. Former Rep. John Delaney said, "I just don't understand why one of the criteria is this kind of money donor standard. The half of the American people that are having a hard time affording their basic necessities, it doesn't seem like they're probably contributing a lot of money to political campaigns." Sen. Michael Bennet said the party should not be emphasizing "national fundraising and cable television over the early states like New Hampshire."[4]
DNC Chairman Tom Perez defended the criteria, which had doubled from the previous two debates. "We’ve said this all along, that in the fall we’re going to raise the threshold because that’s what we always do. You have to demonstrate that you’re making progress. And 2% is hardly a high bar in my judgment," Perez said. "You can’t win the presidency in the modern era if you can’t build relationships with the grassroots."[5]
Who qualified?
The following chart shows which Democratic presidential candidates qualified for the debate and how far each candidate was from crossing the polling and donor thresholds based on media reports.
Democratic presidential primary debates, 2019-2020
- See also: Democratic presidential nomination, 2020
The following table provides an overview of the date, location, host, and number of participants in each scheduled 2020 Democratic presidential primary debate.
Democratic presidential debate participation, 2019-2020
History of televised presidential debates
Although the 1960 general election debate between John F. Kennedy (D) and Richard Nixon (R) is frequently cited as the first televised presidential debate, two came before it.
The first televised presidential debate took place on May 21, 1956, when an ABC affiliate in Miami broadcast a Democratic primary debate between Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefauver.[6] In the general election that year, Stevenson and incumbent President Dwight Eisenhower (R) used surrogates in a televised debate on November 4, 1956. They were represented by former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (D) and Sen. Margaret Chase Smith (R), respectively.[7]
The Kennedy-Nixon debates that took place four years later showed the importance of television as a visual medium, "Nixon, pale and underweight from a recent hospitalization, appeared sickly and sweaty, while Kennedy appeared calm and confident. As the story goes, those who listened to the debate on the radio thought Nixon had won. But those listeners were in the minority. ... Those that watched the debate on TV thought Kennedy was the clear winner. Many say Kennedy won the election that night," TIME reported on the 50th anniversary of the event.[8]
While a handful of presidential primary debates were held between 1964 and 1972, the televised presidential debate did not become a staple of American politics until 1976.[9]
Overview
The following chart shows the number of presidential and vice presidential debates that took place in each election cycle between 1960 and 2024.
List of presidential debates, 1960-2024
The following table shows the date, location, and moderators for each presidential debate between 1960 and 2024.[10]
| Presidential debates, 1960-2024 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Location | Moderator |
| September 26, 1960 | Chicago, IL | Howard K. Smith, CBS News |
| October 7, 1960 | Washington, D.C. | Frank McGee, NBC |
| October 13, 1960 | Los Angeles, CA / New York, NY | Bill Shadel, ABC |
| October 21, 1960 | New York, NY | Quincy Howe, ABC News |
| September 23, 1976 | Philadelphia, PA | Edwin Newman, NBC News |
| October 6, 1976 | San Francisco, CA | Pauline Frederick, NPR |
| October 22, 1976 | Williamsburg, VA | Barbara Walters, ABC News |
| September 21, 1980 | Baltimore, MD | Bill Moyers, PBS |
| October 28, 1980 | Cleveland, OH | Howard K. Smith, ABC News |
| October 7, 1984 | Louisville, KY | Barbara Walters, ABC News |
| October 21, 1984 | Kansas City, MO | Edwin Newman, formerly NBC News |
| September 25, 1988 | Winson-Salem, N.C. | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 13, 1988 | Los Angeles, CA | Bernard Shaw, CNN |
| October 11, 1992 | St. Louis, MO | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 15, 1992 | Richmond, VA | Carole Simpson, ABC |
| October 19, 1992 | East Lansing, MI | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 6, 1996 | Hartford, CT | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 16, 1996 | San Diego, CA | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 3, 2000 | Boston, MA | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 11, 2000 | Winson-Salem, N.C. | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 17, 2000 | St. Louis, MO | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| September 30, 2004 | Coral Gables, FL | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 8, 2004 | St. Louis, MO | Charles Gibson, ABC |
| October 13, 2004 | Tempe, AZ | Bob Schieffer, CBS |
| September 26, 2008 | Oxford, MS | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 7, 2008 | Nashville, TN | Tom Brokaw, NBC |
| October 15, 2008 | Hempstead, NY | Bob Schieffer, CBS |
| October 3, 2012 | Denver, CO | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 16, 2012 | Hempstead, NY | Candy Crowley, CNN |
| October 22, 2012 | Boca Raton, FL | Bob Schieffer, CBS |
| September 26, 2016 | Hempstead, NY | Lester Holt, NBC |
| October 9, 2016 | St. Louis, MO | Martha Raddatz, ABC Anderson Cooper, CNN |
| October 19, 2016 | Las Vegas, NV | Chris Wallace, FOX |
| September 29, 2020 | Cleveland, OH | Chris Wallace, FOX |
| October 22, 2020 | Nashville, TN | Kristen Welker, NBC |
| June 27, 2024 | Atlanta, GA | Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, CNN |
| September 10, 2024 | Philadelphia, PA | David Muir and Linsey Davis, ABC |
See also
- Presidential candidates, 2020
- Democratic presidential nomination, 2020
- Republican presidential nomination, 2020
- Presidential debates (2015-2016)
Footnotes
- ↑ Sabato's Crystal Ball, "Presidential Primary Debate History: Lessons for 2020," June 26, 2019
- ↑ ABC News, "ABC News to host 3rd Democratic primary debate in September as DNC announces higher qualifying threshold," May 29, 2019
- ↑ Politico, "DNC rules could expand, not shrink, future debate stage," August 6, 2019
- ↑ CBS News, "John Delaney: New DNC debate criteria "probably excludes a large part of our country,'" May 31, 2019
- ↑ USA Today, "Democratic debates: DNC Chair defends rules to get on stage, says they ensure a 'fair shake,'" June 2, 2019
- ↑ Illinois Channel, "From 1956, the First Televised Presidential Debate," June 15, 2016
- ↑ United States Senate, "The First Televised Presidential Debate," accessed June 12, 2019
- ↑ TIME, "How the Nixon-Kennedy Debate Changed the World," September 23, 2010
- ↑ Center for Politics, "Eight Decades of Debate," July 30, 2015
- ↑ Commission on Presidential Debates, "Debate History," accessed September 28, 2020
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