The next Democratic debate is likely to be only 1 night

It looks like we can start bidding farewell to two-night Democratic presidential debates.

After the first two 2020 debates took place over two nights, the third debate in September is now expected to place every candidate on just one night. That's because the Democratic National Committee's rules stipulated that for this event, should 10 candidates qualify, the event would take place on one night, and it would only be split into two if 11 or more candidates made it, CNN reports.

The only candidate who was quite close to qualifying under the new, stricter rules was billionaire Tom Steyer, as all he needs is one more poll in which he has 2 percent support. Pundits were on the edge of their seats as two new polls were set to be released on Wednesday, but in these latest surveys from USA Today/Suffolk and Quinnipiac, Steyer didn't reach 2 percent. NBC's Alex Seitz-Wald points out that there's no other poll expected to be released before the midnight deadline.

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This means the third Democratic debate will be the first time that all of the major candidates share the same stage; it will also be the first time that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former Vice President Joe Biden will face off. The debate's other participants will be Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), as well as South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former congressman Beto O'Rourke, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro.

Under the DNC's rules, though, candidates do have more time to qualify for the October debate, so Politico reports that it's possible for the debate stage to actually expand again.