NBC announces five moderators for first Democratic debate

Image: The First Democratic Debate graphic
José Diaz-Balart, Savannah Guthrie, Lester Holt, Chuck Todd, and Rachel Maddow. Copyright NBC News
Copyright NBC News
By Allan Smith with NBC News Politics
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The presidential primary face off, hosted by NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo, will take place in Miami on June 26-27.

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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 for both hours, while Guthrie and Diaz-Balart will appear alongside him in the first hour and Todd and Maddow appear alongside him during the second hour, 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.

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