Six presidential candidates will face off Tuesday night at the last Democratic debate before the first votes are cast in the 2020 election. Six presidential candidates will face off Tuesday night at the last Democratic debate before the first votes are cast in the 2020 election. The seventh Democratic presidential debate is set for Tuesday night, and it will be the smallest — and least diverse — debate to date. The field of candidates has been shrinking, and the front-runners' campaigns have been taking on a tougher tone with one another, with even old friends Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren butting heads. Just six of the remaining 12 Democratic candidates qualified for Tuesday night's debate, making it the smallest debate stage yet. Things are getting increasingly tense — because there isn’t much time left. Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Sanders, Steyer and Warren will take the stage for the last debate before the Iowa caucuses. The seventh presidential debate of the 2020 Democratic primary season takes place on CNN tonight. Here’s how cord cutters can stream the action. Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s weekly politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited. sarahf (Sarah Frostenson, politics editor): For the first time this cycle, fewer than 10 candidates qualified for Thursday night’s debate. Under the DNC’s tougher criteria (4 percent support in at least four national or early-state polls or 6 percent support in at least two early-state polls, plus 200,000 unique1 donors), just seven candidates made the cut: Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren and Andrew Yang. The final Democratic presidential debate of the year is bringing seven 2020 candidates to the stage in California one day after the House voted to impeach Donald Trump for abuse of power and obstruction. Fighting for attention in the twin shadows of President Donald Trump's impeachment and Christmas, seven of the remaining candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination will meet here Thursday night for the second-to-last debate before the Iowa caucuses. PBS NewsHour and POLITICO are hosting the final Democratic debate of the year on Dec. 19 in Los Angeles. The debate will feature 2020 candidates Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren and Andrew Yang. Seven Democrats will take the stage Thursday at 8 p.m. ET for the sixth Democratic presidential debate. POLITICO and PBS NewsHour will host the last Democratic debate of the year at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, Dec. 19, at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Seven candidates—Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren, and Andrew Yang— have qualified for the debate. More than just the four early states will decide the 2020 Democratic primary. After all, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina only make up about 4 percent of the total delegates awarded, whereas the 16 states and territories1 that vote next on Super Tuesday contribute more than a third. But because these four states vote first, they play an outsized role in winnowing the candidate field and setting the course for the primary. Understanding the state of play in each contest is crucial to understanding where the nomination race stands and where it could go. The first Democratic primary debates are taking place more than seven months before voters caucus in Iowa and go to the polls in New Hampshire. Between today and when the Democratic nominee faces President Trump on Election Day 2020, there are dozens of important dates: the Democratic debates, the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, Super Tuesday, the Republican and Democratic conventions, and finally Election Day itself: November 3, 2020. The race is unsettled, and the field will soon shrink. Here’s what everyone needs to do to advance to December. The stakes are creeping higher as early primaries and caucuses get nearer. Ten candidates will be on the stage in Atlanta beginning at 9 p.m. ET. The fifth Democratic presidential debate — which will once again feature 10 candidates — will be on Wednesday, November 20, from 9 to 11 ET at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, and will be broadcast by MSNBC. The next Democratic debate, co-hosted by MSNBC and The Washington Post, will take place in Atlanta on Nov. 20. Which candidates will be on the stage? What are their stances on key issues? What has happened in previous debates? The Democratic presidential primary debate on Wednesday will feature Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren standing center stage, flanked by Bernie Sanders and a rising Pete Buttigieg — and will be missing a couple of familiar faces.
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