October Democratic Debate Live: Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and More to Take the Stage in Ohio

Madeleine Carlisle
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Tonight, a record-breaking 12 candidates will grace the Democratic presidential primary debate stage in Westerville, Ohio.

All 10 candidates who appeared in the September debate will attend, including front runners Vice President Joe Biden, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and California Sen. Kamala Harris. They’ll be joined by two additions: Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and billionaire executive Tom Steyer, who’ll make his Democratic National Committee-sanctioned presidential primary debate debut.

The debate will be co-hosted by CNN and The New York Times and air live at 8 p.m. from Otterbein University. CNN anchors Anderson Cooper and Erin Burnett and New York Times National Editor Marc Lacey will moderate.

The usual Democratic issues of immigration, health care and the economy will likely come up. The September Democratic debate saw lengthy arguments over Medicare for All, and the topic will more than likely come up again. Foreign policy might also get more airtime than in previous debates; President Donald Trump recently announced he would withdraw troops from northeastern Syria, which critics argue abandons Kurdish allies in the region. The U.S. relationship with Ukraine has also faced greater scrutiny given the House of Representatives recently launched impeachment inquiry into the President, which will also likely be heavily discussed.

Tonight also marks a milestone for women in politics. Four women will appear on stage tonight, the highest number to ever share a presidential primary debate stage. The record was previously held by the past three 2020 Democratic presidential primary debates, which included three women on stage each night. Before the 2020 cycle, no presidential debate stage had included more than one woman.

Candidates needed to have at least 2% in four DNC-approved polls and receive at least 130,000 unique donations by Oct. 1 to qualify for the debate. Gabbard who threatened to boycott the October debate last week in protest of the DNC’s rising criteria, arguing the DNC and the “corporate media are trying to hijack the entire election process.” On Monday, Gabbard said she would attend the debate.

The candidates were placed on stage based on the average of the 10 most recent qualifying polls as of Oct. 2. This puts Biden, Warren, Sanders and Buttigieg closest to the middle.

Follow along for live updates from the October Democratic Debate in Ohio.

Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and more will face off in Ohio

Elizabeth Warren might be fending off more attacks tonight than in previous debates, as she’s continued to rise in national and state-wide polls.

“As we’ve seen Elizabeth Warren rise in the polls and challenge Joe Biden for front runner status, we can expect her to be the target of renewed attacks on her most liberal positions, like Medicare for All,” Jennifer Victor, an associate professor of political science at George Mason University’s Schar School Policy and Government, writes in an email.

Sanders might also be looking to go on the attack, especially since Warren has climbed in the polls as he has declined. Hans Noel, an associate professor at Georgetown University’s Department of Government, tells TIME there’s potential for clashes between Biden, Warren and Sanders, as each tries to cement themselves as a front runner.

Candidates who are not in the top three but have made it into the November debate — like Harris, Buttigieg and entrepreneur Andrew Yang — could also try and elevate themselves to front-runner status but going after other candidates. Buttigieg, for example, might go after Warren or Sanders for being to his left, American University Professor of Government James Thurber tells TIME.

Tonight’s debate might be a last chance for lower-polling candidates — like former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Sec. Julián Castro and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar — to make a name for themselves before facing the higher requirements to appear in the November debates. Candidates will need at least 165,000 unique donors, with at least 600 each in at least 20 states and at least 3% in four national or early state polls, or 5% in two early state polls. So far only eight of the 12 candidates onstage tonight have qualified.

“The sheer number of candidates on the stage will likely contribute to a somewhat unfocused event, as each candidate tries to have a break-out moment,” Victor writes.

Watch for the impeachment inquiry

Some key factors have changed since last month’s debate. In just a few weeks, many House Democrats changed their tune and came to nearly unanimously support an impeachment inquiry into Trump. Crucially, the inquiry involves one of the Democratic primary’s leading candidates; the proceedings first began after a whistleblower filed a complaint alleging that Trump pressured the President of Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Viewers should watch to see how the former Vice President, and other candidates, maneuver the President’s attacks against the Biden family.

Every presidential primary candidate supports the impeachment inquiry, and the topic of impeachment — and the President himself — will likely come up more than in previous debates.

Sanders also suffered a heart attack since the last debate, which could impact how directly others attack him, Thurber tells TIME.

“[E]veryone should watch Bernie to see if he is as energetic as usual,” Political analyst Stuart Rothenberg, senior editor of Inside Elections with Nathan Gonzales, also writes in an email.

Kyle Kondik, the managing editor of political forecaster Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, predicts in an email that viewers will also see many of the same issues they have come up in previous debates. As per usual, he says, cost, quality, and access to healthcare will likely come up, as could immigration and gun control.

Follow along for live updates of TIME’s coverage of the October Democratic presidential debate.

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