2016 Democratic Party presidential debates and forums

The 2016 Democratic Party presidential debates will occur among candidates in the campaign for the Democratic Party's nomination for the President of the United States in the 2016 presidential election. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced on May 5, 2015, that there would be 6 debates, in comparison to the 26 debates and forums that were part of the 2008 presidential campaign.

On August 6, 2015, the DNC announced the locations for all six debates, with exact venues still to be determined, and the specific dates for the first four debates.

Schedule

   CNN
Las Vegas

CBS News
Des Moines

ABC News
Manchester

NBC News
Charleston

Univision
Miami

PBS
Milwaukee

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Sites of the 2016 Democratic primary debates

Note - The schedule of debates may change.

Debates among candidates for the 2016 Democratic Party U.S. presidential nomination

No.	Date	Time	Place	Host	Participants*
P  Participant.     I  Invitee (to a future debate).     N  Non-invitee.†    A  Absent invitee.  O  Out of race (exploring or withdrawn).					Chafee	Clinton	O'Malley	Sanders	Webb
1 Template:Beige	Oct. 13, 2015	5:30 p.m. PDT	Wynn Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV	CNN/Facebook	P	P	P	P	P
2	Nov. 14, 2015		Drake University Des Moines, IA	CBS News/KCCI/ The Des Moines Register
3	Dec. 19, 2015		Manchester, NH	ABC News/WMUR-TV
4	Jan. 17, 2016		Charleston, SC	NBC News/Congressional Black Caucus Institute
5	Feb./Mar. 2016		Miami, FL	Univision/ The Washington Post
6	Feb./Mar. 2016		Milwaukee, WI	PBS
= event completed
*^ Participating in at least one debate listed above:   Former Gov. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island  • Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of New York  • Former Gov. Martin O'Malley of Maryland  • Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont  • Former Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia
†^ Candidates featured in major polls not invited to any debate listed above:   Prof. Lawrence Lessig of Massachusetts (campaign)

Summaries

October 13, 2015 – Las Vegas, Nevada

Candidate	Airtime
Clinton	31:05
Sanders	28:05
O'Malley	17:56
Webb	15:35
Chafee	9:11

The first debate began on October 13, 2015 at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas at 8:30 p.m. and ended at 11:00 p.m. Eastern time. It aired on CNN and was broadcast on radio by Westwood One. Anderson Cooper was the moderator of the debate, with Dana Bash and Juan Carlos Lopez asking additional questions and Don Lemon presenting questions submitted by voters via Facebook.

To be invited to the debate, a candidate had to achieve an average of at least 1% in three recognized national polls released between August 1 and October 10. In addition, a candidate had to either file a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission or declare that one would be filed by October 14, the day after the debate. The latter criterion would have accommodated Vice President Joe Biden had he decided to enter the presidential race as late as the day of the debate. CNN had an extra lectern available to install for Biden, but he took no action to enter the campaign before the debate.

Analysis on the debate was largely mixed between who won, between the top two candidates. Some analysts from CNN and BBC viewed Clinton as the winner, while other publications such as The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, and the Fox News Channel, claimed that Sanders was the winner. Conversely, Chafee, O'Malley and Webb were widely regarded as the "losers". One of the most memorable moments from the debate, which drew an average of 15.3 million viewers, a record for a Democratic debate, came when Sanders replied to a question about Clinton's email controversy that the American people were "sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails." Sanders continued, “Let me say something about the media as well,” he said. “I go around the country, talk to a whole lot of people. The middle class of this country is collapsing. We have 27 million people living in poverty. We have massive wealth and income inequality. Our trade policies have cost us millions of decent jobs. The American people want to know whether we’re going to have a democracy or an oligarchy as a result of Citizens United. Enough of the emails! Let’s talk about the real issues facing America.” Bernie Sanders' passionate words drew cheers and applause from the audience as well as a smile and handshake between the two candidates. Many major news media outlets, like CNN, are systematically editing and cutting out Bernie Sanders' full statement when playing clips from the debate. In regards to social media, Sanders had the biggest gains of the night on Twitter and Facebook, with an increase of 46,000 new followers and 35,000 new likes, respectively; over the course of the night, he was also the most-searched candidate on Google. Conversely, Clinton had the biggest gains on Instagram, with 25,000 likes for her photograph of her podium just before the debate started. It was noted that Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, who was live-Tweeting the entire debate and mocking the candidates, gained more Twitter followers over the course of the night than all of the five candidates combined, with over 70,000 new followers.

With the focus primarily being on Clinton and Sanders, a majority of subsequent fact-checking in the aftermath of the debate was in regards to comments made by the two of them. Fact-checking by the Associated Press and USA Today pointed out mistakes in both of their presentations: Specifically, Clinton was considered inconsistent in many of her policy stances, particularly in regards to the Obama administration's handling of the Syrian Civil War as well as the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement that Clinton supported as Secretary of State, but changed to opposing while a candidate. In contrast, Sanders was pointed out as making economic claims based on outdated information, particularly in regards to how much of America's GDP actually goes to the wealthiest in the country, as well as his proposals for tuition-free college being largely unsustainable.

November 14, 2015 – Des Moines, Iowa

The second debate is scheduled for November 14, 2015, at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. It will air on CBS News and will also be broadcast by KCCI and The Des Moines Register.

The moderators are Cynthia Fodor of KCCI, with participation by Alyx Sacks of KCCI.

December 19, 2015 – Manchester, New Hampshire

The third debate—the final one in 2015—is scheduled for December 19, 2015, in Manchester, New Hampshire. It will air on ABC News and will also be broadcast by WMUR-TV.

January 17, 2016 – Charleston, South Carolina

The fourth debate—the first debate of 2016—is scheduled for January 17, 2016, in Charleston, South Carolina, and will air on NBC News. It will also be broadcast by the Congressional Black Caucus.

February/March 2016 – Miami, Florida

The fifth debate is scheduled to be held in February or March 2016, in Miami, Florida, and will air on Univision. It will also be broadcast by The Washington Post.

February/March 2016 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The sixth and final debate is scheduled to be held in February or March 2016 in Wisconsin and will air on PBS.

Criticism and controversy

Number of Debates

Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley have criticized the DNC's debate schedule for being particularly sparse compared to 2008 - six debates versus 26. Nor are other debates likely - Democratic Party candidates are not allowed to participate in non-sanctioned debates if they want to participate in the official DNC debates.

Criticism over the limited number of debates reached a peak at the DNC's national meeting in Minneapolis on August 28. State Senator Martha Fuller Clark, vice chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, reportedly had an "intense discussion" about the number of debates with DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. During the national meeting, candidate Martin O'Malley criticized DNC officials for the lack of debates. Cecil Benjamin, chair of the Democratic Party of the US Virgin Islands, interrupted the meeting to offer a motion to increase the number of debates; the motion received applause and cheers from the audience.

In early September, DNC vice chairs Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and former Mayor of Minneapolis RT Rybak released a statement calling for more debates and for releasing the restrictions imposed to keep candidates from participating in non-DNC debates. Former DNC chair Howard Dean expressed his disappointment in the rule barring candidates from non-DNC debates, saying "It's not right." A small protest took place outside the DNC headquarters in Washington DC on September 16 calling for more debates. On September 18, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi echoed calls for more debates in an interview with The Los Angeles Times.

On September 19, 2015, during her speech at the New Hampshire Democratic Party convention, DNC chair Wasserman Schultz was heckled with shouts for more debates. On September 22, the Vermont Democratic Party sent a letter to the DNC calling for more debates.

Candidates Invited to Debate

Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig, who announced his campaign on September 6, criticized the requirement that Democratic candidates must earn at least 1% in three major national polls in the six weeks before the debate. His criticism was centered on the fact that he was excluded from most polls because the Democratic National Committee (DNC) did not officially welcome him to the campaign as it had done for all five other candidates. In the two weeks following his announcement, Lessig was only included in one national poll, in which he met the 1% requirement; other national polls have included Vice President Biden, who has yet to announce whether he is running. The day before the CNN debate, the Bloomberg Editorial Board published an editorial entitled, "Let All the Candidates Debate, Democrats," calling for the DNC to include Lessig in the debate, but this demand went unheeded.

See also

• Democratic Party presidential primaries
• Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016
• Democratic Party presidential candidates, 2016
• Republican Party presidential debates, 2016

External links

• Video of the October 13, 2015 debate in Las Vegas