First democratic debate in Miami on June 26 and 27

The first democratic debate of the 2020 presidential primary will take place on June 26 and 27 in Miami, announced Thursday NBC News, the host of the debate.

MSNBC and Telemundo will also be the host. Details about the venue, moderators and schedule will be announced at a later date, announced NBC News in a statement.

The debate will also be broadcast in free online streaming on NBC News digital platforms, including NBCNews.com, MSNBC.com, the NBC News mobile application and OTT applications, in addition to Telemundo's digital platforms.

The Democratic National Committee had previously stated that the alignments for each debate would be chosen at random, and not strictly according to the ranking of the candidates in the polls. To qualify, a candidate must have at least 1% support in three eligible polls or provide evidence of at least 65,000 unique donors, with at least 200 different donors in at least 20 states. Already, more than a dozen Democratic candidates have launched a presidential bid while other big names, like former Vice President Joe Biden, seem ready to embark on the race.

If more than 20 candidates get one of these two qualifications, the top 20 will be selected using a separate method that will reward applicants for compliance with both thresholds, followed by the average of polls the highest, then the most unique donors.

There will be a total of 12 debates during the 2020 Democratic primary season. The June debate is the first of six debates scheduled this year. Six more debates are planned for 2020. CNN will host the second debate in July. The expansion of the platform for debate comes after the party has been criticized during previous presidential primary cycles for having too few debates.

Allan Smith

Allan Smith is a political journalist for NBC News.