And now, the moment you've all been waiting for... the 2020 Democratic lineup!
On Thursday, the Democratic National Committee revealed the 20 contenders who had made the cut for its first round of debates on June 26 and 27. Now, NBC has conducted a drawing to decide which candidates will face off each night.
While NBC says its drawing was completely random, it does neatly split up progressive rivals Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) into two events. But it also pits frontrunner Joe Biden against Sanders, who was Biden's closest threat until Warren beat him out in two recent polls. That leaves former Rep. Beto O'Rourke as Warren's primary competition on Wednesday, despite him polling at just three percent in a California poll published Thursday. Entrepreneur Andrew Yang, meanwhile, might just achieve his dream of standing next to Biden.
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The DNC determined its debaters by gauging if they've gotten donations from at least 65,000 individuals, and if they've hit at least one percent in three separate polls. Those qualifications will be ramped up for the September debates, with debaters needing at least 130,000 unique donors and two percent support in four polls between June and August.
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