Smallest Democratic debate stage yet set for Thursday

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Iowa State Daily

Podiums for the Democratic presidential debate Nov. 14, 2015, at Drake University.

Jake Webster

The Democratic Party will have a smaller debate stage in the latest debate Thursday.

Only seven Democrats qualified for latest presidential debate, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Thursday on PBS. The debate is set to be co-hosted by PBS NewsHour and Politico.

Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, Tom Steyer, Amy Klobuchar and Andrew Yang all qualified for this debate, which will take place the day after President Donald Trump was impeached by the United States House of Representatives. All seven candidates have voiced their support for Trump’s impeachment.

Mack Shelley, Iowa State professor and chair of the political science department, said it is possible with impeachment the frontrunner may change in the Democratic primary.

Sanders, Warren and Klobuchar, all of whom are U.S. senators, will be on Capitol Hill at least part of January for the Senate trial following the House’s impeachment of Trump. The first opportunity Democratic primary voters will have the chance to note their preferred nominee is Feb. 3, with the Iowa Democratic caucuses.

It was not clear until Tuesday the debate would even take place, due to a labor dispute at the venue for the debate, Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. All seven Democrats said they would not participate in the debate if it meant crossing a picket line.

The debate takes place 46 days prior to the Iowa caucuses, where the latest Iowa State poll of likely Iowa Democratic caucusgoers found Buttigieg in the lead with 24 percent support, followed by Sanders with 21 percent, Warren with 18 percent, Biden with 15 percent, Klobuchar with 4 percent, Yang with 3 percent and Steyer with 2 percent.