WASHINGTON, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Thursday announced the 20 candidates who have qualified for the party's first presidential primary debates.
The candidate list, released by the committee on Twitter, includes former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Senator Kamala Harris of California.
The DNC requires candidates to either have at least 1 percent support in three qualifying polls or receive donations from at least 65,000 unique donors. Most of the qualified have met both thresholds.
Hosted by NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo, the two-night debates will take place on June 26 and 27 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami, Florida. The event will be aired live across all three networks from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m ET both nights (0100 GMT to 0300 GMT next day).
NBC News plans Friday to hold a random drawing assigning 10 candidates to each night. It is the first of a dozen primary debates the DNC has planned.
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