The second Democratic presidential candidate debate for the 2020 election will be held Thursday night in Miami.

The first was held Wednesday night in Miami -- read about it and see highlights here.
• NBC will broadcast the debates live from 9-11 p.m. both nights.
• There are 10 participants scheduled to debate on both nights.
• These participants (see below) were selected in a drawing last week at NBC News' headquarters in New York.
• NBC says podium placements started with top polling candidates beginning at the center positions and lower polling contenders being placed closer to the edges of the stage. Candidates who were tied in the polls were ranked based on the overall number of qualifying polls, according to NBC News.
• Here's what happened Wednesday night in the first Democratic debate.

You may also watch it live streaming here:

Here are the Thursday night debate participants:

Here is who participated Wednesday night: </s> The URL has been copied to your clipboard

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The Election 2020 circus has rolled into Miami, as 20 Democratic party candidates prepare to face off for two nights of debates marking the official start of the attempt to deny President Donald Trump a second term. VOA's Congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports from Miami. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the Democrats’ first 2020 presidential debates later this month (all times local): 12:45 p.m. NBC has announced how it will divvy up the 20 Democratic candidates for the first…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the Democrats’ first 2020 presidential debates later this month (all times local):

NBC has announced how it will divvy up the 20 Democratic candidates for the first debate of the 2020 election campaign, which will be held over two nights in Miami later this month.

The lineup for the first two-hour session on June 26 features Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Beto (BET’-oh) O’Rourke, Amy Klobuchar (KLOH’-buh-shar), Julián Castro, Bill de Blasio (dih BLAH’-zee-oh), John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, Tim Ryan and Jay Inslee.

The lineup for the next night features Bernie Sanders, Kamala (KAH’-mah-lah) Harris, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg (BOO’-tuh-juhj), Michael Bennet, Marianne Williamson, Eric Swalwell, Kirsten Gillibrand (KEER’-sten JIHL’-uh-brand), Andrew Yang and John Hickenlooper.

The Democratic National Committee says it divided the candidates at random but ensured that contenders considered front-runners would not be stacked on one night to avoid the impression that one night was more important than the other.

The Democratic National Committee has announced that 20 candidates have qualified for the party’s first presidential debates later this month.

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts were the only major candidates out of the two dozen Democratic hopefuls who failed to meet the polling or grassroots fundraising measures required to get a debate spot.

Two lesser-known candidates, former Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska and Miramar, Florida, Mayor Wayne Messam, also missed the cutoff, announced Thursday.

The campaign’s opening debates, set for June 26-27 in Miami, will offer a prime opportunity for many White House hopefuls to reshape a race defined in recent weeks by former Vice President Joe Biden’s domination of national and many early state polls.

Copyright © 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> Democratic presidential candidates will descend on Miami this week for the first pair of debates with many hoping to do what only few so far have achieved: score a breakout moment. </s> The Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County is shown, Friday, June 21, 2019, in Miami. The Democratic Presidential Debates are scheduled to take place June 26 and 27, with 10 candidates competing each night. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

MIAMI (AP) — The Latest on the Democratic presidential debates (all times local):

The scene following Wednesday night’s debate was chaotic as the candidates dispersed into the spin room to try to frame the conversation following the main event.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, former Housing Secretary Julian Castro, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, former John Delaney Rep. John Delaney and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar all appeared in person among the crowds of reporters gathered.

Castro, de Blasio and Booker, who each had standout moments during the debate, were mobbed by dozens of cameras and print reporters as they entered the room. Castro and de Blasio took victory laps, each telling reporters he was happy with how he drove the conversation.

Other campaigns, including a handful representing candidates not debating till Thursday, sent surrogates and advisers to drive talking points to the media.

Bill de Blasio is making no apologies for his aggressive style during the first Democratic debate.

The New York mayor says Democrats shouldn’t “be afraid to mix it up” and argues it’s a “giant turnoff to the voters” when politicians mince their words.

De Blasio notably went after former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke for his opposition to eliminating private insurance in favor of nationalized health care.

De Blasio faces an uphill battle to secure the nomination.

But after the debate he chalked up his pugilism to frustration with his rivals. He says many of them said things that didn’t “fit the values of the party” and he is vowing to “call ’em out.”

The Democratic presidential candidates have concluded the first 2020 debate emphasizing the promise of America.

The 10 candidates ended the night Wednesday by boiling down their stump speeches into answers that included why they were best positioned to beat President Donald Trump and how the primary is a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party.

Fighting poverty, combating climate change and the proper role of government were prominent features of the concluding comments of the first debate of the 2020 cycle.

Thursday will be the second night of debates. It, too, will feature 10 candidates, including front-runners former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. California Sen. Kamala Harris and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg will also appear.

The 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls have given a range of answers about what they see as the greatest threat facing the U.S., including China, climate change and President Donald Trump.

The most common answer at Wednesday’s debate was China, mentioned by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, ex-Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (dih BLAH’-zee-oh) said Russia because the country “is trying to undermine our democracy.”

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke said climate change. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who’s made climate change the emphasis of his campaign, pointed instead to Trump.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii said nuclear war, which also got a mention from Delaney. Klobuchar also said Iran.

The urgency with which to address changes in the world’s climate has emerged as somewhat of a unifying topic at the first Democratic presidential debate.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee called his state’s progress on the issue the “gold standard.” He said Wednesday that he’s the only member of the massive Democratic field to make tackling the problem his top priority.

Asked how he’d win over voters worried about possible government overreach in climate-related restrictions, former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke pledged to help communities including the debate host city Miami, an area “on the front lines of climate change today.”

Former Obama-era Cabinet secretary Julián Castro vowed a recommitment to the Paris Climate Accord, while former Maryland Rep. John Delaney noted he was alone in introducing a bipartisan carbon tax bill in Congress.

Elizabeth Warren’s campaign trail refrain is that she has “a plan for it.” That apparently extends to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who refused to hold a hearing for President Barack Obama’s last Supreme Court nominee.

Warren was asked during Wednesday’s Democratic presidential debate if she has a plan for dealing with the Kentucky Republican, who prides himself in blocking Democrats’ legislative priorities.

She answered, “I do,” drawing cheers from the audience.

The Massachusetts senator says energized Democrats have to “stay on the front lines,” even after the 2020 presidential election is decided.

She says pressure must be applied both from activists on the outside and leaders on the inside “to make sure this Congress reflects the will of the people.”

The Democratic presidential candidates are talking in very personal terms about gun violence and how to curb it.

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said at Wednesday’s debate that he lives in a neighborhood where shootings are common. He supports gun licensing and says, “This is not about policy. This is personal.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts says the toughest questions she’s gotten on the campaign trail are from kids who ask how she’d keep them safe. Warren says the U.S. should “double-down” on research into what works to reduce gun violence.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (dih BLAH’-zee-oh) talked about raising a black son and trying to keep him safe, including from police.

Wednesday’s debate is taking place in Miami, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the high school in Parkland, Florida, where a gunman killed 17 people last year.

The second hour of the first Democratic presidential debate has been derailed by technical difficulties.

As debate moderators Rachel Maddow and Chuck Todd took over Wednesday for the next round of the debate, the 10 candidates on stage were unable to hear the question Todd was trying to ask about the federal government’s role in getting guns off the street.

Following back-and-forth confusion, Todd announced the debate would head to a commercial break.

President Donald Trump tweeted that debate hosts NBC and MSNBC “should be ashamed of themselves for having such a horrible technical breakdown in the middle of the debate.”

Trump is en route to Osaka, Japan, for the Group of 20 summit.

The first hour of the first Democratic presidential debate of the 2020 cycle passed with hardly a mention of the man whom the 10 candidates on stage hope to face next November.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar was first to utter President Donald Trump’s name, saying a few minutes into the debate, that Trump “sits in the White House and gloats” while the economy isn’t working for everyone.

She also briefly referenced him again as the debate headed into its second hour. Responding to a question about U.S. tensions with Iran, Klobuchar said, “I don’t think we should conduct foreign policy in our bathrobe at 5 in the morning.”

Other candidates invoked the president’s name in making their arguments on immigration.

Trump was en route to Japan for the G-20 summit as the two-night event got underway. He has weighed in once so far on the debate, tweeting, “BORING!”

This item has been corrected to show that Klobuchar uttered Trump’s name a few minutes into the debate, not 16 minutes into the debate.

Sen. Cory Booker is alone at the Democratic presidential debate in calling it a “mistake” to sign onto the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran.

The New Jersey senator was the only one of the 10 candidates on stage in Miami on Wednesday not to raise his hand when asked if he supported the deal. Under the agreement, Iran agreed to limit its enrichment of uranium and submit to U.N. inspections in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Pressed to explain his rationale, Booker said as president he would “do the best I can to secure this country.”

President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the accord in May 2018 and has imposed increasingly tough sanctions to pressure Iran into a better deal. The U.S. has threatened sanctions against countries that trade with Iran.

The Democratic presidential candidates are decrying the Trump administration’s tough immigration policies, saying the president is to blame for the deaths of an immigrant father and his toddler daughter found lying face-down after drowning in the Rio Grande.

At Wednesday’s debate, former Obama administration housing chief Julián Castro says a photo of the family “is heartbreaking” and “should piss us all off.” He also attacked fellow Texan Beto O’Rourke for not supporting fully decriminalizing the act of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker spoke briefly in Spanish to further chastise Trump’s policies, O’Rourke, a former congressman, took a question in Spanish and answered it, saying, “We are going to treat everyone with respect.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (dih BLAH’-zee-oh) says the economy hasn’t been hurt by immigrants. He says corporations are to blame.

Questions over private health insurance have provoked the first clash of the Democratic presidential debate.

Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke was explaining Wednesday why he supported a plan known as “Medicare for America” and not “Medicare for All,” saying he wants people who are happy with their current health insurance plan to keep it.

When pressed if he wanted to fully replace private insurance, O’Rourke said: “No.” That prompted New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (dih BLAH’-zee-oh) to jump in from across the stage, saying, “Private insurance is not working.”

O’Rourke started to respond that people unhappy could choose Medicare, but de Blasio shot back, “Why are you defending private insurance?”

The debate over how to handle private health insurance is emerging as a dividing line in the first 2020 Democratic debate.

Only Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (dih BLAH’-zee-oh) raised their hands when asked if they would abolish private health insurance entirely in favor of a government-run plan.

Warren went on to note that she supports a “Medicare for All” plan proposed by fellow hopeful Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The issue opened into a debate among many of the 10 candidates on stage on the first of two back-to-back debate nights. De Blasio later interrupted Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s answer on how he’d handle health insurance by declaring that the current system is “not working.”

President Donald Trump is skipping the opening minutes of the first Democratic debate to greet service members at Alaska’s Elmendorf Air Force Base.

Trump told troops as the debate was starting Wednesday: “I had my choice between you and them. And I chose you.”

Air Force One is refueling at the air base as Trump travels to Osaka, Japan, for meetings with world leaders at the Group of 20 summit. Asked how his opposition will fare, Trump says, “I think they’re all going to do very poorly.”

Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke showed off his fluent Spanish while answering his first question of the Democratic presidential debate.

O’Rourke said Wednesday in English at the debate in Miami that “this economy has got to work for everyone” and that, right now, it isn’t. Then he switched to Spanish, saying in that language that “we need to include everyone” in a booming national economy.

O’Rourke, who hails from the Texas-Mexico border city of El Paso, spoke in Spanish at length, then switched back to English. He said the Trump administration has focused on helping the wealthy and large corporations over everyday Americans — echoing similar sentiments of the other Democrats on stage.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren started off the first Democratic presidential debate answering a question about her policy driven campaign and how it may affect what is seen as a good economy.

Warren said Wednesday: “Who is this economy really working for?” She says, “It’s doing great for a thinner and thinner slice at the top.”

The Massachusetts senator says the economy is working well for “giant oil companies” and those who want to invest in private prisons, but not for those struggling and Americans facing the effects of climate change.

The second question of the night went to Sen. Amy Klobuchar on her criticism of the concept of free college.

The first debate of the 2020 Democratic presidential race is kicking off with a two-hour event featuring 10 candidates, including three senators, a mayor and several current or former members of Congress.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is center stage for Wednesday’s debate in Miami because she leads the night’s field in polling. She is flanked by former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey. At the far ends are New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and former Rep. John Delaney of Maryland, who are polling at the bottom of the group.

The candidates will get right to it. NBC says they will be allowed to give closing statements but no openings.

Ten other candidates will meet Thursday for the second debate night.

The chairman of the Democratic National Committee is firing up the crowd at his party’s first presidential primary debate — and previewing some lines of attack that candidates will use against President Donald Trump.

Tom Perez said Wednesday that the planet is under threat from unchecked climate change and that justice itself has been threatened under the current administration.

He says the Trump White House is nothing but a long trail of “broken promises” and corruption. There was long applause when Perez said immigrant children shouldn’t be separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Ten Democrats hoping to deny Trump a second term will kick off two nights of back-to-back debates shortly. They entered the stage and waved to the audience before the debate began.

John Hickenlooper’s struggle to get noticed in the crowded presidential primary field was on full display when a staffer at the first Democratic debate mistook him for a member of the press.

The former Colorado governor was entering the Miami debate hall Wednesday when a security guard asked if he was there to pick up his media credentials.

A reporter for National Public Radio who witnessed the exchange tweeted that Hickenlooper responded: “I’m a candidate.”

But Hickenlooper may have gotten the last laugh with a jab at President Donald Trump, who was a reality TV star before he entered politics.

Hickenlooper quipped on Twitter: “Last time, we elected the most famous candidate. Let’s try something new.”

Hickenlooper will join nine other candidates Thursday night for the second of two debates.

White House hopefuls in Miami for the Democratic debates are trekking to nearby Homestead, Florida, to visit a large migrant detention facility.

The stops are intended to draw attention to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, which have seen migrant children separated from their families. Homestead is about 40 miles southwest of Miami and is a spot where the U.S. is detaining migrant teens.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren visited the site Wednesday, with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar planning a stop later in the afternoon.

Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke is scheduled to visit the site on Thursday.

And on Friday, California Sen. Kamala Harris, former housing secretary Julian Castro, former U.S. Rep. John Delaney and Pete Buttigieg (BOO’-tuh-juhj), the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, all plan to visit.

Ten presidential candidates, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, are set to meet on the debate stage for the first night of Democratic debates to offer their pitches to voters and attempt a breakout moment for their campaigns.

For many of the White House hopefuls, Wednesday’s debate will be the highest-profile opportunity yet to offer their vision for the country.

Given the massive field, the debate will be split over two nights, with 10 other candidates — including former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — appearing Thursday.

Warren, the sole top-tier candidate at Wednesday’s debate, will take center stage. But she could still face challenges. The other candidates aren’t as well known and could use the moment to make an aggressive move to stand out. </s> White House hopefuls in Miami for the Democratic debates are trekking to nearby Homestead, Florida, to visit a large migrant detention facility.

The stops are intended to draw attention to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, which have seen migrant children separated from their families. Homestead is about 40 miles southwest of Miami and is a spot where the U.S. is detaining migrant teens.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren visited the site Wednesday, with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar planning a stop later in the afternoon.

Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke is scheduled to visit the site on Thursday.

And on Friday, California Sen. Kamala Harris, former housing secretary Julian Castro, former U.S. Rep. John Delaney and Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, all plan to visit.

Ten presidential candidates, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, are set to meet on the debate stage for the first night of Democratic debates to offer their pitches to voters and attempt a breakout moment for their campaigns.

For many of the White House hopefuls, Wednesday’s debate will be the highest-profile opportunity yet to offer their vision for the country.

Given the massive field, the debate will be split over two nights, with 10 other candidates — including former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — appearing Thursday.

Warren, the sole top-tier candidate at Wednesday’s debate, will take center stage. But she could still face challenges. The other candidates aren’t as well known and could use the moment to make an aggressive move to stand out.

—Meet the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates you’ve (probably) never heard of

—Issues that divide 2020 candidates going into the first Democratic debate

—The 2019 Democratic debate clashes you won’t get to see

—What to know About the 2019 Democratic debate: start time, schedule, format </s> MIAMI (AP) — The Democrats' second presidential debate in two nights features most of the 2020 class' strongest competitors — according to early polling, at least — none with more to lose than former Vice President Joe Biden, who has party establishment backing but faces an increasingly restive and liberal base.

The second 10 candidates face each other and the nation Thursday night in a prime-time confrontation sure to underscore differences along lines of race, gender, generation and ideology that are starting to shape the party's winding search for a nominee to take on President Donald Trump.

Biden, who is 76, will stand at center stage, shoulder-to-shoulder with the fellow septuagenarian who is his ideological opposite: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The 77-year-old self-described democratic socialist has pulled his party to the left on key issues, calling for a political revolution that would transform the private health care system into a government-run one and mandate a redistribution of wealth.

Sanders' appeal relies on emotion, often anger. Biden preaches pragmatism and relative moderation.

And they represent only two of ten views on the stage Thursday night.

The showdown takes place in Florida, a general election battleground that could well determine whether Trump wins a second term next year. In Florida, as in the nation more broadly, immigration has defined much of the political debate.

This week several Democrats visited a facility where hundreds of immigrant children are being held near the debate site.

Thursday night's participants had the benefit of having seen 10 other Democrats the previous night. More than 15 million people watched the first contest, according to Nielsen Fast National Data. The viewership exceeded every presidential primary debate in the 2008 and 2012 elections.

Together, the debates are the first high-profile step in a presidential primary process expected to stretch deep into next year.

The leading candidates, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren who debated Wednesday night, have shown little interest in attacking their Democratic brethren directly at the start of a marathon campaign. But an effort to undermine either Biden or Sanders, from any number of directions, wouldn't be a shock.

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and California Sen. Kamala Harris are among the better known candidates in the next tier. Also on stage: Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Michael Bennet of Colorado, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, New York businessman Andrew Yang, California Rep. Eric Swalwell and author and social activist Marianne Williamson.

If nothing else, Thursday's slate highlights the diversity of the Democratic Party's 2020 class.

Buttigieg, a 37-year-old gay former military officer, is four decades younger than Sanders, and has been framing his candidacy as a call for generational change in his party. Harris is the only African American woman to qualify for the presidential debate stage. Any of the three women featured Thursday night would be the first ever elected president.

Yet Biden and Sanders have received far more attention and shown higher standing than their less-experienced rivals. The party will have to decide whether it wants a candidate based on resume over aspiration.

The overall Democratic presidential field is so large that the Democratic National Committee split the candidates into two groupings through a random drawing. Thursday's gathering marks the second wave of the first round.

On Wednesday, Warren stood out — on her own at times — in calling for "fundamental change" across the nation's economy and government to address a widening gap between the rich and the middle class.

"I think of it this way. Who is this economy really working for? It's doing great for a thinner and thinner slice at the top," Warren declared shortly before raising her hand as one of the only Democrats on stage willing to abolish her own private health insurance in favor of a government-run plan. "Health care is a basic human right, and I will fight for basic human rights."

While Trump is the ultimate target of many Democratic voters, the president wasn't a major feature for most of Wednesday's affair.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee was one of the few to attack the Republican president, calling him "the biggest threat to the security of the United States."

Instead of Trump, Democrats leaned into the issue that helped deliver the party the House majority last year: Health care. All supported the concept of providing universal health care, but they differed on how to reach that goal.

That same dynamic will be on display Thursday as well.

Sanders literally wrote the "Medicare for All" plan for universal health care that serves as a rallying cry for many liberals. Biden supports universal health care, but favors a softer approach that would give Americans the choice to join a government-run insurance program known as the "public option."

While the difference may be modest — especially compared to the Republican fight against universal health care coverage of any kind — it has left Biden vulnerable to liberal attacks that he's not willing to embrace bold change.

Indeed, Biden's candidacy represents a throwback of sorts to the values that defined the tenure of President Barack Obama, whom he served as vice president. While some liberals were frustrated that Obama didn't fight for more dramatic change in Washington, Biden often associates himself with a focus on civility and lack of drama from the White House in contrast to Trump's turbulent first term.

In the early months of the 2020 presidential campaign, that has been enough — especially as Democratic voters make clear that their most significant factor in picking a nominee has less to do with ideology than electability. And so far, many believe Biden is best-positioned to deny Trump a second term.

Still, Biden has faced friendly fire from Democrats in recent weeks for his positions on abortion, his record on criminal justice, and his willingness to work with Republicans, even Southern senators who were openly racist.

Trump is spending the night in Asia for trade talks.

He had little to say from afar Wednesday night other than calling the first Democratic debate "BORING!" on social media.

In recent weeks, Trump has focused almost solely on Biden, whom he calls "Sleepy Joe." </s> The field of Democrats hoping to face off against President Trump in the 2020 presidential election is, um, crowded—but of course, it’s also diverse and exciting. So far, more than *20* candidates have thrown their hats in the ring, and now we’re finally getting the chance to watch ’em duke it out on the debate stage. (From the comfort of your own couch, with a glass of wine in hand, obvi.) Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the first Democratic presidential candidates debate.

So, when and where is the debate taking place?

It’s all happening on Wednesday, June 26, and Thursday, June 27, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. EST in Miami, Florida, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Since there’s a crazy number of candidates in the running, the Democratic National Committee has decided—for the first time ever—to hold the debate over the course of two nights.

According to The New York Times, the lineups were “randomly decided” so that the top-tier candidates weren’t grouped together on a single night. However, some people aren’t convinced that the lineups were chosen at random, given that 4 out of the 5 top polling candidates are featured on night two. If you’re in that camp, don’t worry, there are 11 more debates to look forward to!

If you still have network television (or you’re currently kicking it at your parents’ house, no shame), you can catch the debates on NBC, Telemundo, or MSNBC. Luckily, you can also stream the debates for free through a ton of sites. Here are your options:

Cool, okay, so who’s debating who?

The first night of debates—Wednesday, June 26—will include the following qualifying candidates, in the order that they’ll be standing in onstage:

And here’s the lineup for night two (Thursday, June 27):

Gotcha. Anything else I need to know?

It hasn’t been confirmed which specific issues each candidate will be asked about, but we do know that every candidate will have 60 seconds to answer the question and then another 30 seconds to respond to any follow-up questions.

If you’re still unsure what each candidate is all about, check out the handy guide below: </s> LOS ANGELES — The first Democratic presidential debates of the 2020 campaign are taking place Wednesday and Thursday — July 26 and 27, 2019 — in Miami and will be telecast on NBC-affiliated broadcast and cable stations.

The debates, sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee and each featuring 10 candidates, will begin at 6 p.m. on both days and be televised by NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo. The debates will also be streamed by NBCNews.com, MSNBC.com, NBC News NOW, NoticiasTelemundo.com, and on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Under rules set by the DNC, candidates needed to either register 1% support in three qualified polls or have 65,000 unique donors to their campaign, with a minimum of 200 donors in at least 20 states, to qualify for the debate.

The 20 candidates who qualified were divided into two groups of 10 in a drawing Friday.

In an effort to avoid grouping lesser-known candidates together on one night and high-profile candidates on the other, candidates were divided into two groups — those who polled on average at or above 2% through June 12 and those who polled on average below 2% through midnight on Wednesday. A random draw then took place, to create two groupings of 10.

“The purpose of that is to be consistent with our principle of trying to be fair to everybody but also, it gets to the point of your question, so that we have maximum eyeballs both nights,” DNC chairman Tom Perez told MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson before the draw.

The candidates position on the stage at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami was determined by their standings in qualifying public polling through June 12.

Top polling candidates were placed at the center positions, with lower polling contenders being placed closer to the edges of the stage. Candidates who were tied in the polls were ranked based on the overall number of qualifying polls.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke will be in the middle Wednesday.

Standing from left to right will be New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio; Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan; former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro; New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker; Warren; O’Rourke; Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar; Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard; Washington Gov. Jay Inslee; and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney.

This will be the first time more than one woman has been on stage for a presidential primary debate.

“NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt, “Today” anchor Savannah Guthrie and “Noticias Telemundo” anchor Jose Diaz-Balart will moderate the first hour. Holt will also appear in the second hour, which “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow will moderate.

Candidates will have 60 seconds to answer questions and 30 seconds to respond to follow-ups.

Democratic Party organizations and campaigns are also conducting viewing parties at five sites in Los Angeles County for Wednesday’s debate.

The 6 p.m. watch parties will be held at:

A second 10-candidate debate will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, with watch parties set for the following locations:
The first of two Democratic Party debates for the nomination of the party's nominee in the 2020 United States presidential election is held in Miami, Florida.