When is the first Democratic presidential primary debate and how many Republican debates are left before the RNC? Get your calendar ready because there are a total of 15 debates scheduled through March 2016.
The Democratic National Committee announced last month that the first primary debate is scheduled for October 13, two weeks before the third Republican debate is held at the University of Colorado on October 28.
The Washington Post reports that the Republican National Committee planned to have fewer debates in the primary cycle than in years past, but they still have almost twice as many as the Democrats have scheduled for 2015-2016.
Candidates, venues, and moderators for some of the debates have not been announced yet, but the dates below have been confirmed by both the DNC and the RNC. It is not known at this time if any of the dates will be canceled or if more debates will be added to the schedule.
The following list contains the 2015-2016 Republican and Democratic Presidential primary debate schedules.
Democratic presidential primary debates
Current candidates include: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, Lawrence Lessig, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chaffee.
October 13, 2015 — Las Vegas – Moderator Anderson Cooper (CNN) November 14, 2015— Iowa (CBS) December 19, 2015 — Manchester, New Hampshire (ABC) January 17, 2016 — Congressional Black Caucus Institute in Charleston, South Carolina (NBC) February or March 2016 (TBA) — Miami, Florida – Hosted by Univision and the Washington Post February or March 2016 (TBA) — Wisconsin – Hosted by PBS
Republican presidential primary debates
Formats for the upcoming debates may vary, but the first two debates featured an early debate with bottom-ranking candidates and a primetime debate with top ranking candidates. Candidates include: Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, George Pataki, Lindsey Graham, Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Kasich, and Carly Fiorina.
October 28, 2015 — CNBC Republican Debate – University of Colorado in Boulder (CNBC) November (TBA) 2015 — Fox Business/WSJ Republican Debate – Wisconsin (FOX Business Network) December 15, 2015 — CNN/Salem Republican Debate – Las Vegas (CNN) January (TBA) 2016 — Fox News Republican Debate – Iowa (Fox News) February 6, 2016 — ABC/IJReview Republican Debate – St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire (ABC) February 13, 2016 — CBS News Republican Debate – The Peace Center in Greenville, South Carolina (CBS) Moderator: John Dickerson February 26, 2016 — NBC/Telemundo Republican Debate – Texas (NBC/Telemundo) March (TBD) 2016 — Fox News Republican Debate – Venue TBC (Fox News) March 10, 2016 — CNN/Salem Republican Debate – Florida (CNN)
The Democratic National Convention will be held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia July 25–July 28, 2016. CBS News reports that the Republican National Convention will be held July 18—21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
[Images: Darren McCollester/Getty Images News]
