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Your 2020 Democratic presidential debates cheat sheet

Ten Democratic presidential candidates are set to take the debate stage in Houston on Thursday.

The third debate, which will be hosted by ABC News and Univision at Texas Southern University, excludes a handful of candidates vying for the Democratic National Committee’s nomination, including Mayor Bill de Blasio. 

Below, who did – and didn’t – make the cut, and everything else you need to know about the DNC’s presidential primary debates.

Which candidates are appearing in the debate?

Here are the 10 candidates who qualified for the debate:

  • Former Vice President Joe Biden
  • New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker 
  • South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg
  • Former Housing Sec. Julián Castro
  • California Sen. Kamala Harris 
  • Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar 
  • Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke
  • Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders
  • Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren
  • Entrepreneur Andrew Yang

How to watch the debate?

The debate will air on ABC, the network’s streaming channel ABC News Live and on Univision with a Spanish translation. It will also stream on ABCNews.com, the network’s mobile apps, Hulu Live, The Roku Channel, and Facebook Watch.

Who are the debate moderators?

ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos, "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir, ABC News correspondent Linsey Davis and Univision anchor Jorge Ramos will moderate the debate. 

What is the debate format?

Each candidate will get one minute and 15 seconds for direct responses to questions and 45 seconds for rebuttals.

What were the qualifications for the debate?

The DNC tightened its qualifications for the third and fourth debates. For a candidate to make it onto the debate stage in September and October, they had to meet the threshold for polling and grassroots fundraising, instead of just one of those two criteria. The polling threshold was 2 percent support in four qualifying polls. The fundraising threshold required at least 130,000 unique donors, with 400 different donors per state in 20 states.

Who didn’t qualify?

The following candidates did not make into the third debate:

  • Mayor Bill de Blasio
  • Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet
  • Montana Gov. Steve Bullock 
  • Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney
  • Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
  • Miramar, Florida, Mayor Wayne Messam
  • Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan
  • Former Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Sestak
  • Entrepreneur Tom Steyer
  • Author Marianne Williamson

The following candidates ended their campaigns ahead of the deadline:

  • New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
  • Former Alaskan Sen. Mike Gravel
  • Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper
  • Washington Gov. Jay Inslee
  • Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton
  • Former West Virginia State Sen. Richard Ojeda
  • California Rep. Eric Swalwell

How many debates are there?

The Democratic National Committee will hold 12 primary debates during the 2020 presidential election cycle. Six will be held in 2019 and another six will take place in 2020.

When are the other DNC presidential debates?

The DNC has so far announced:

  • The fourth debate will be split over two nights – Oct. 15 and 16 – but further details have not yet been announced by the DNC.
  • Details on the fifth and sixth debates have not yet been announced by the DNC.