Why Aren’t Bernie Sanders & Elizabeth Warren in Tonight’s Debate?

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren

Getty Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren

Tonight is the Democratic debate, but why aren’t Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in the debate tonight? Where are they? The answer is simple: Sanders and Warren were in last night’s debate, not tonight’s. There were two Democratic debates in a row this week. The first was last night, July 30, and the second debate is tonight, July 31. There were simply too many candidates to all appear on one night, so they divided the debate into two nights.

For this week’s debates, the DNC randomly drew names for who would attend the debates from three groups. This time around, CNN decided that the four top candidates would be in a tier of their own and split over two nights. This was an attempt to make sure the debates weren’t too lopsided, since Elizabeth Warren was the only top-polling candidate in one of the debates in June. So Warren, Biden, Harris, and Bernie Sanders were in one group, and names were drawn from that group to ensure top candidates were in both debates. Warren and Sanders were chosen for last night’s debate.

The candidates who are in tonight’s debate are Jay Inslee, Kirsten Gillibrand, Tulsi Gabbard, Michael Bennet, Bill de Blasio, Cory Booker, Andrew Yang, Julian Castro, Kamala Harris, and Joe Biden.

Last night’s debate featured Marianne Williamson, John Delaney, John Hickenlooper, Tim Ryan, Steve Bullock, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders.

Last night marked the first time that Sanders and Warren shared a debate stage. They’ve both talked in the past about how they were friends, and it showed during the debate, when they pretty much backed each other up on everything.

Here are some photos of the two friends at the debate last night:

Getty

Getty

Sanders and Warren both did great at the debate last night. They inspired a lot of memes and tweets praising their performance.

Sanders’ comment about “writing the damn bill” inspired a lot of memes.

And this moment was a gem:

Warren’s comments about having a plan and not using Republican talking points inspired a lot of tweets too.

Together they made a strong team last night.

Tonight you can see Biden and Harris square off again, since they weren’t in last night’s debate. The debate will start at the same as last night: 8 p.m. Eastern. CNN is starting the debates an hour earlier than the debates were held last month, which will make it a little easier for East coast viewers to follow along, but a little more difficult for West coast viewers who might just be getting off work when the debates are starting.

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