WESTERVILLE, Ohio — The fourth Democratic primary debate takes place tonight, broadcast from Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, at 8 P.M. Eastern and it’s streaming live for free.
US Senator for Vermont Bernie Sanders will make his first appearance back on the campaign trail following his recent heart attack. He'll be joined by 11 others, including former Vice President Joe Biden, California Senator Kamala Harris and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, all vying for the chance to run on the Democratic ticket for President of the United States in 2020.
The 12-person debate will include 10 candidates we saw in September, plus two more. One of the two additions is the brand new face of billionaire Tom Steyer.
Although US Rep. Tim Ryan, who represents Ohio’s 13th congressional district, participated in the primary debate in September, Ohioans won’t see him on the stage this time because he didn’t meet the minimum qualifications. (To qualify each candidate must reach at least 2 percent in four qualifying polls and raise money from 130,000 unique donors.)
But just because he wasn’t invited this time doesn’t mean Ryan is out of the running. Hawaii Rep. Tusli Gabbard didn’t qualify for September’s debate after previously being a part of the conversation, but she’s back again tonight.
(Gabbard had previously said she would boycott the debate over the qualifying requirements, but later changed her mind and confirmed she would be part of it.)
The debate is being hosted by the New York Times and CNN, and will be moderated by CNN anchors Anderson Cooper and Erin Burnett and NYT national editor Marc Lacey.
3News will have continuing coverage of the event, headed up by Russ Mitchell, investigative reporter Mark Naymik and Stephanie Metzger on the digital side.
NBCNews.com will also live-blog the debate throughout the night, offering live updates, fact checks and analysis.
Those interested in seeing what the Democratic nominee hopefuls have to say can watch on television on CNN, and stream the debate live on all of their platforms, including cnn.com, CNNgo, all CNN apps and nytimes.com.
You will also be able to stream the debate for free on Sling TV, the over-the-top (OTT) internet television service owned by Dish Network.
For those that might not know, an OTT service is basically an app that can be downloaded directly to a smart TV, smart phone, computer or another device like Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire Stick and Chromecast.
The latter options can be plugged into televisions that are not already internet-capable so that you can stream content directly to your TV.
Here's the full list of candidates who will have opportunities to speak tonight during the fourth Democratic primary debate:
- Former Vice President Joe Biden
- New Jersey Senator Cory Booker
- South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg
- Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro
- California Senator Kamala Harris
- Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar
- Former Texas Congressperson Beto O'Rourke
- Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders
- Tom Steyer
- Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren
- Andrew Yang
- Hawaii Congressperson Tulsi Gabbard