DNC Announces Candidates Participating in First Democratic Presidential Primary Debate

Today, the DNC announced that twenty candidates have been invited to participate in the first Democratic presidential primary debate.  Each candidate was invited based on the qualification criteria agreed to by the DNC and NBC News, announced publicly in February.

The first debate will take place over two back-to-back nights at 9 p.m. ET on June 26 and 27, 2019, in Miami, Florida. The debate will be broadcast in prime time on NBC, MSNBC, and Telemundo, and will be streamed online for free on a variety of digital and social platforms.

The following candidates have been invited to participate in the first primary debate:

Sen. Michael Bennet

Vice President Joe Biden*

Sen. Cory Booker*

Mayor Pete Buttigieg*

Sec. Julian Castro*

Mayor Bill de Blasio

Rep. John Delaney

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard*

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand*

Sen. Kamala Harris*

Gov. John Hickenlooper

Gov. Jay Inslee*

Sen. Amy Klobuchar*

Rep. Beto O’Rourke*

Rep. Tim Ryan

Sen. Bernie Sanders*

Rep. Eric Swalwell

Sen. Elizabeth Warren*

Ms. Marianne Williamson*

Mr. Andrew Yang*

* Candidates marked by an asterisk qualified through both polling and grassroots fundraising thresholds.  The remaining candidates qualified through polling only.