The 2016 Democratic debate season kicks off Tuesday in Las Vegas, with five candidates taking the stage: Lincoln Chafee, Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley, Bernie Sanders and Jim Webb. Vice President Joe Biden is not scheduled to participate, but CNN says it will include him if he changes his mind. Here are a few graphs to put the Democrats’ 2016 debate schedule in context. (Click here for information on the Republicans’ debates).
Number of Debates
Many Democrats are upset with the limited number of debates scheduled for the 2016 primary cycle. Only six debates are scheduled, compared with the 12 scheduled Republican debates. Only four Democratic debates will happen before the first votes are cast in the Iowa Caucuses, while the GOP will host six before then.
Like Republicans, Democrats are cutting down on the number of debates this cycle. From 1984-2008, Democrats averaged 14 debates per cycle.
The Democrats have not hosted so few debates in a presidential cycle since 1976. That cycle, however, few of the candidates realized the primary contests would be important under a new nomination system, explaining the relatively low number of debates.
This debate’s five candidates marks the fewest number of participants to open the debate season since only Al Gore and Bill Bradley contested the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000.
Host States
Tuesday will mark the third time Las Vegas has hosted a Democratic primary debate. It hosted two in the 2008 cycle.
Wisconsin will host its first-ever Democratic debate before the nomination is decided. The GOP will also host a debate there in November.
One major contrast between GOP and Democratic host sites comes in New York and Florida. Democrats have hosted nine debates in New York, while the Republicans have hosted only one there. The GOP has hosted nine debates in Florida, while Democrats will have hosted just two by the end of this cycle.
New Hampshire has hosted a Democratic debate in every cycle since the 1984 process. Iowa has hosted the Democrats every year but 1992.
Calendar
Oct. 13 is the latest start date for the Democratic debate season since the Bradley versus Gore primary of 2000 began on Oct. 27.
This year’s start reverses a trend of debate seasons starting earlier and earlier. The last three debate seasons have started earlier than the one prior. By this point in the 2008 cycle, there had already been eight debates.
Historically, January of an election year has been the most crowded month for presidential primary debates. The Democrats will have hosted 20 debates in January from 1984-2016, while Republicans will have hosted 22.
The latest Democratic debate came on June 3, 1984, when Walter Mondale faced off against Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson just 43 days before the Democratic National Convention began.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
