NBC announced on Tuesday the five moderators for the first Democratic presidential primary debate, set for later this month.
Savannah Guthrie, Lester Holt, Chuck Todd, Rachel Maddow and José Diaz-Balart will moderate the debate, which will take place at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami over two nights on June 26-27.
The debate, which is sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee, will air live across NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo from 9 to 11 p.m. ET each night.
- Holt is anchor of “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” and “Dateline NBC.”
- Guthrie is co-anchor of “TODAY” and NBC News chief legal analyst.
- Todd is moderator of “Meet the Press with Chuck Todd” and NBC News political director.
- Maddow is host of “The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC.
- Díaz-Balart is anchor of “Noticias Telemundo” and “NBC Nightly News Saturday.”
Both debate nights will have the same format. Holt will moderate the first hour, with Guthrie and Diaz-Balart appearing alongside him; Holt will also appear in the second hour, with Todd and Maddow moderating, NBC News announced.
In total, 20 candidates will participate in the two-night event, with 10 taking the stage each night.
Candidates need to either register 1 percent support in three qualified polls or have 65,000 unique donors to their campaign, with a minimum of 200 different donors in at least 20 states, to qualify for the debate. Should more than 20 candidates qualify for the debate, the Democratic National Committee will use a series of tiebreakers to determine who makes it onto the stage.
