Getty Biden and Harris
Tonight is the Democratic debate, but why aren’t Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the debate tonight? Where are they? The answer is simple: Kamala Harris and Joe Biden are going to be in tomorrow night’s debate, not tonight’s. There are two Democratic debates in a row this week. The first is tonight, July 30, and the second debate is tomorrow night, July 31. That’s when Biden and Harris are appearing. 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 that was divided in half randomly. Harris and Biden were chosen for tomorrow night’s debate.
The candidates who are in tomorrow night’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.
Ever since the June debate, people have been wanting to see another Harris-Biden showdown. A lot of people were talking about the comments between Harris and Biden after the last debate, in which Harris asked Biden if he regretted his busing stance from the past and Biden insisted that he had a good reason for the stance he took. It was a tense moment and it will be interesting to see if the dynamic plays out again. Up until that moment, there had been talk among political commentators that if Biden got the nomination, Harris might be his Vice President. Now it seems that isn’t very likely. At this point, however, the nomination could be anyone’s, depending on how people do in the debates.
Tonight will mark the first time that Sanders and Warren have shared a debate stage. They both talk about how they are friends and they’re on similar sides in progressive debates. Because of this, it’s possible that the two will pretty much back each other up during the debate rather than find themselves at odds.
Beto O’Rourke is more likely to find himself in disagreement with Sanders and Warren on some issues tonight, such as healthcare. O’Rourke is a proponent of Medicare for America, while Sanders is a strong proponent of a single-payer Medicare for All. There will likely be some intense discussions about that tonight, among other things.
But tomorrow night is when you’ll see Biden and Harris square off again, if that’s what you were hoping for tonight. The debate will start at the same time it’s starting tonight: 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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