With just days until another major round of primaries — in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio on March 17 — former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders will take the debate stage in Washington, DC, this Sunday, March 15, for the 11th — and possibly last — debate of the Democratic presidential primary.
The debate will start at 8 pm ET and is scheduled to run for two hours. It will stream live on the CNN site and app.
CNN and Univision are co-hosting the debate, which the Democratic National Committee is holding in partnership with CHC Bold, a political action committee affiliated with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. CNN’s Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, along with Univision’s Ilia Calderón, will moderate.
The debate was originally scheduled to be held in Phoenix, Arizona, ahead of that state’s primary but was moved over concerns about the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.
The qualifying standard for the 11th debate — candidates are required to have earned at least 20 percent of the pledged delegates that have been already awarded — means that Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, the only other candidate still in the race, failed to qualify.
As Biden and Sanders take the stage, the stakes are high. Biden is in a good position to potentially claim the Democratic nomination after a strong performance last week in six states, including crucial Michigan, and the states holding contests Tuesday, particularly the delegate-heavy Florida, favor him. If Sanders wants to keep his shot at the nomination alive, he’ll need a good debate performance to revitalize his campaign heading into the final stretch of the race.
This debate could also be the last: While the DNC’s framework calls for 12 debates, with the last in April, No. 12 hasn’t been scheduled yet. And there’s a very real possibility that a candidate could have the nomination sewn up by then.
Follow along below for Vox’s debate coverage, including how to watch, breaking news updates, analysis, and more.
What April’s Democratic debate might look like — if it happens
Sen. Bernie Sanders, left, and former Vice President Joe Biden on stage at the 10th Democratic debate in Charleston, South Carolina, on February 25. Win McNamee/Getty ImagesFormer Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders met in Washington, DC, on Sunday for the 11th debate of the Democratic presidential primary. It was the first one-on-one debate of the cycle — and it might also be the last.
The Democratic National Committee framework for the 2020 debates does call for 12 debates, with the last one in April. But even setting aside that everything from the NBA to Broadway has been canceled in March due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, it’s unclear whether that 12th debate will actually take place.
Read Article >Democrats’ choice is clearer than ever: Fight Trump or fight for revolution
Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders at the Democratic debate Washington, DC on March 15, 2020. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty ImagesYou rarely get as perfect an encapsulation of two presidential campaign messages as we did Sunday morning when two dueling opinion columns by former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders appeared on CNN’s website. Biden’s headline said, “The virus lays bare the shortcomings of the Trump administration,” while Sanders’s said, “Coronavirus highlights the flaws in our health care and economic systems.”
At Sunday’s debate, this same disagreement echoed again and again.
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Zack Beauchamp, Dylan Matthews and 2 more
4 winners and 2 losers from the March Democratic debate
Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden at the Democratic debate at CNN Studios on March 15, 2020. Evan Vucci/APEditor’s note: This article is from the Democratic primary debate on March 15, 2020. Click here for winners and losers of the September 29 presidential debate.
The March 15 Democratic debate, the long-anticipated one-on-one showdown between former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, turned out to be something of a weird one. There was no live audience, the candidates’ podiums were spaced unusually far apart, and it was held in Washington, DC, rather than (as originally planned) Arizona — a state holding one of the primaries this coming Tuesday.
Read Article >6 key moments from Sunday’s debate between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders
Joe Biden speaks about the coronavirus crisis on a live broadcast, in a nearly empty restaurant/bar in Los Angeles during the Democratic debate on March 15, 2020. Mario Tama/Getty ImagesAs Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders stepped on the debate stage Sunday night, they bumped elbows. It was the first of many moments reminding viewers that this debate was not by any measure normal.
Biden and Sanders met without an audience in the middle of a coronavirus pandemic, but that didn’t stop them from taking digs at one another. Sanders attacked Biden from the left over Social Security; Biden portrayed Sanders’s agenda as unrealistic, arguing that people are looking for “results, not a revolution” in a moment of crisis. The differences between the two candidates was as clear as it’s ever been.
Read Article >Joe Biden says he will pick a woman for vice president
Joe Biden participates in the Democratic debate in Washington, DC on March 15, 2020. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty ImagesFormer Vice President Joe Biden made a significant commitment during the debate on Sunday: He pledged to make a woman his running mate.
When faced with a question about how his administration would promote women’s rights, Biden indicated that part of his efforts would include the selection of vice president. “If I’m elected president, my cabinet, my administration will look like the country and I commit that I will, in fact, appoint a woman to be vice president,” he said.
Read Article >Biden says he’ll name a black woman to the Supreme Court. Here are five names he could pick.
Ketanji Brown Jackson is one of several federal judges who might be considered for a Supreme Court shortlist. US District Court for the District of ColumbiaFormer Vice President Joe Biden reiterated his pledge at Sunday night’s debate to appoint a black woman to the Supreme Court.
Only two African Americans, Justices Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas, have served on the Supreme Court. And only one woman of color, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, has joined the Court. If Biden is elected and follows through on that promise, his nominee would be the first black woman to serve as a justice.
Read Article >The next Democratic debate will feature a much smaller stage
Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden at the 10th Democratic debate in South Carolina on February 25, 2020. Win McNamee/Getty ImagesBelieve it or not, there are still more Democratic debates: After three in quick succession in February, the next debate — No. 11 — will take place on this Sunday, March 15, in Washington, DC.
The debate will be co-hosted by CNN and Univision and is two days ahead of a busy election night, when Arizona, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio vote. CHC Bold — a political action committee affiliated with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus — has partnered with the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for the debate. The debate starts at 8 pm ET and will run for about two hours; Dana Bash and Jake Tapper of CNN, along with Ilia Calderón of Univision, will moderate.
Read Article >Tulsi Gabbard won two delegates, but won’t be in the next debate
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) won a delegate in the American Samoa caucus. Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesRep. Tulsi Gabbard finally won some delegates: She came in second in the American Samoa caucuses on Super Tuesday, winning two pledged delegates.
That win doesn’t put her in contention for the nomination — she’d need 1,899 more delegates to become the nominee — but under the rules for the last Democratic debate, it would get her on the stage.
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