First 2020 Democratic debates to be held in Miami in late June

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Fox & Trends with Carley Shimkus.

The road to the Democratic presidential nomination will pass through Miami this summer.

The Democratic National Committee announced on Thursday that Florida’s largest city will be the location for the first debate of the 2020 election cycle. The DNC added that the prime-time debates will take place on back to back nights on June 26-27. As previously announced, the first round of debates will be hosted by NBC News, MSNBC, and Spanish language network Telemundo.

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Each night’s debate will have up to 10 candidates, with the contenders assigned randomly to the two stages.

With an extremely large field of contenders -- there are currently 15 declared candidates or White House hopefuls who’ve launched presidential exploratory committees -- the DNC announced last year that the debates would likely occur over consecutive nights to make room for everybody on the stage.

To qualify for the debates, the candidates have to meet certain polling and fundraising thresholds.

Miami was one of three finalists for 2020 Democratic National Convention. Milwaukee ended up edging out Miami and Houston, the other finalist.

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While Florida could play an important role in the primary calendar – it holds its contest on March 17, 2020 – it’s the largest of the crucial battleground states in the general election. And it’s home to a large Spanish-speaking population.

CNN will host the second round of DNC debates, which will be held in July. A location for those showdowns has yet to be announced.