A total of ten debates occurred among candidates in the campaign for the Democratic Party's nomination for the president of the United States in the 2016 presidential election (This was in contrast to 12 Republican debates.).
Several forums, in which candidates do not respond directly to each other, were later also announced, with the support of the DNC.
Presidential debates
Schedule The Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced on May 5, 2015, that there would be 6 debates, which they considered "a reasonable number and in line with what the national committee sanctioned in 2008." On August 6, 2015, the DNC announced the locations for all six original debates, with exact venues still to be determined, and the specific dates for the first four debates.
In late January 2016, trailing the New Hampshire primary race, the Clinton campaign requested a second New Hampshire debate, which had already been scheduled to February 4, to be officially sanctioned by the DNC. The Sanders campaign said they would only agree with that proposal if a total of four additional debates would be held, one in February, March, April and May each. Both campaigns agreed to a March 3 debate in Flint, Michigan. There also seemed to be agreement on a California debate on May 24, but not at the remaining April 14 debate in Brooklyn, New York, as proposed by Sanders. On February 3, just ahead of the second New Hampshire debate, Clinton's and Sanders's campaigns agreed in principle to holding four more debates, also sanctioned by the DNC, for a total of 10.
+ Debates among candidates for the 2016 Democratic Party U.S. presidential nomination No. Date Time Place Sponsor(s) Invitees Participant Invitee (to a future debate) Non-invitee Absent invitee Out of race (exploring or withdrawn)ChafeeClintonO'MalleySandersWebb DNC sanctioned debates 1Tue Oct. 13, 2015 5:30 p.m. PDTWynn Las VegasParadise, NVCNN/Facebook 2Sat Nov. 14, 2015 8 p.m. CSTDrake UniversityDes Moines, IACBS News/KCCI/The Des Moines Register/Twitter 3Sat Dec. 19, 2015 8 p.m. ESTSt. Anselm CollegeGoffstown, NHABC News 4Sun Jan. 17, 20169 p.m. ESTGaillard CenterCharleston, SCNBC News/YouTube/CongressionalBlack Caucus Institute 5Thu Feb. 4, 20169 p.m. ESTUniversity of New HampshireDurham, NHMSNBC 6Thu Feb. 11, 20168 p.m. CSTUniversity of Wisconsin–MilwaukeeMilwaukee, WIPBS/WETA-TV/Facebook 7Sun Mar. 6, 20168 p.m. ESTThe Whiting in Flint Cultural CenterRidley, Gary. (2016-2-22) "Details set for Flint presidential debate with CNN and Anderson Cooper." mlive.com February 23, 2016Flint, MICNN8Wed Mar. 9, 20169 p.m. ESTMiami Dade CollegeMiami, FLUnivision/The Washington Post/CNN9Thu Apr. 14, 20169 p.m. EDTDuggal Greenhouse in Brooklyn Navy YardBrooklyn, NYCNN/NY110May 2016N/ASan Francisco, California (canceled)Fox News Channel*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
Ratings The following table lists the ratings (number of estimated viewers) of the debates to date. Debate Date Viewers Network 1 October 13, 2015 15.8 million CNN 2 November 14, 2015 8.5 million CBS 3 December 19, 2015 7.8 million ABC 4 January 17, 2016 10.2 million NBC 5 February 4, 2016 4.5 million MSNBC 6 February 11, 2016 8.0 million PBS 7 March 6, 2016 5.5 million CNN 8 March 9, 2016 5.9 million Univision/CNN 9 April 14, 2016 5.6 million CNN/NY1
Tuesday October 13, 2015 – Paradise, Nevada Candidate Airtime PollsClinton28:05 43.3%Sanders31:05 25.1% Webb 15:35 0.9% O'Malley 17:56 0.4% Chafee 9:11 0.3% The Democratic Party's first presidential debate ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election was held on October 13, 2015, at the Wynn Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada.
Starting at 8:30 p.m. and ending 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 regarding who, between the top two candidates, won. 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 all 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", which drew cheers and applause from the audience and a smile and handshake between the two candidates. With regard 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 during 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 regarding 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 with regard 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 with regard to how much of America's GDP actually goes to the wealthiest in the country.
This was the first and only debate appearance of Chafee and Webb, who ended their campaigns on October 23 and October 20, respectively.
Saturday November 14, 2015 – Des Moines, Iowa Candidate Airtime PollsClinton38:33 54.7%Sanders24:17 33.0% O'Malley 21:28 2.7% The Democratic Party's second presidential debate ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election was held on November 14, 2015, at the Sheslow Auditorium at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
It aired on CBS News and was also broadcast by KCCI and The Des Moines Register. This was the first debate to be broadcast over nationwide network television, the previous debate having gone over cable.
CBS News Political Director John Dickerson was the principal moderator, with participation by Kevin Cooney of KCCI.
The day before the debate, November 13, was the day of the November 2015 Paris attacks, where nearly 130 civilians were killed by radical Jihadist terrorists - specifically, members of ISIS - across the city of Paris. As a result of the attacks, after initial speculation that the debate might be cancelled, CBS announced that, while the debate would go on as planned, the focus of the debate's content would be dramatically shifted over to foreign policy and terrorism. In addition, a moment of silence was held at the beginning of the debate in memory of the victims.
One of the most memorable moments of the debate was when Clinton defended against claims that she had ties to Wall Street bankers, particularly when Sanders pointed out that some of Clinton's largest donors were from Wall Street. Clinton retaliated by claiming that, as the Senator from New York during the September 11 attacks, she had to work closely with Wall Street since the attacks were so close to Wall Street. Clinton immediately received scrutiny over these comments, including when Dickerson highlighted a Tweet from a viewer reading, "Never before have I heard someone use 9/11 to justify millions of Wall Street donations," which drew thunderous applause from the audience, and led to both Sanders and O'Malley also attacking Clinton for those comments. Post-debate criticisms arose from all across the political spectrum, from Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, to Clinton's own former campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, who said that the 9/11 reference would've been better used in the previous discussion on terrorism and foreign policy, not justifying her Wall Street connections.
The New York Times and many other media organizations have heavily criticized Clinton for invoking 9/11 to cover her Wall Street connections.
Second presidential debate of the Democrats in Des Moines on CBS News
Saturday December 19, 2015 – Goffstown, New Hampshire Candidate Airtime PollsClinton38:14 56.3%Sanders30:20 30.6% O'Malley 24:20 4.3% The Democratic Party's third presidential debate ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election was held on December 19, 2015, at St. Anselm College, in Goffstown, New Hampshire.
It aired on ABC News and was moderated by journalist David Muir, anchor of World News Tonight, and Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz. On December 11, 2015, the DNC had announced that it would revoke the sponsorship of the debate by WMUR-TV because of a labor dispute with its unionized employees. The topics covered during the debate included Sanders' campaign's breach of Clinton's campaign data, strategy for defeating ISIS, gun control, the issue of whether to depose President Assad of Syria, if Wall Street favored each candidate, stability in the Middle East enforced by dictators and whether regime change was necessary, and the role of the First Spouse.
Sunday January 17, 2016 – Charleston, South Carolina Candidate Airtime PollsClinton30:12 51.0%Sanders27:31 38.3% O'Malley 14:29 2.3% The Democratic Party's fourth presidential debate ahead of the 2016 Democratic primaries, and the first one in 2016, was held on January 17, 2016, at the Gaillard Center, a venue for performing arts in Charleston, South Carolina.
Held from 9 to 11 pm ET, it was facilitated by Lester Holt and Andrea Mitchell. The location was 7.6 miles southeast of the North Charleston Coliseum, where the last Republican debate had been held on January 14, and the debate aired on NBC News and YouTube. It was also sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus. It was notable as being the final debate before the start of precinct caucuses and primary voting. On January 8, NBC News announced that in order to qualify for the debate, a candidate must have reached an average of at least 5% either in national polls, or in Iowa, New Hampshire, or South Carolina, based on the five most recent polls recognized by NBC News released before January 14.