The 2016 campain season features more than 20 debates between the major party primaries and the general election. Here are some details on future general election debates, as well as past primary debates.
General Election Debates
The 2016 general election will feature three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate, as decided by the Commission on Presidential Debates. The same format has been used for every presidential election since 2000. Moderators will be announced sometime in 2016.
Monday, Sept. 26 Presidential Debate
Location: Hempstead, N.Y.
First debate featuring both the Republican and Democratic nominees for president. It will come almost two months after the party conventions conclude, and more than five months after the last primary debate.
The debate will take place in six segments focusing on different major topics for about 15 minutes each. The moderator will announce the topics at least one week prior to the debate. Each segment will open with a question, followed by two minutes for each candidate to respond and a deeper discussion of the topic.
This debate was originally scheduled to take place in Dayton, Ohio, but Wright State University gave up their hosting rights because of budget and security concerns.
Tuesday, Oct. 4 Vice Presidential Debate
Location: Farmville, Va.
The debate will be divided into nine segments of roughly 10 minutes each. The moderator will ask an opening question at the beginning of each segment, followed by two minutes for each candidate to respond and then a deeper discussion of the topic.
Sunday, Oct. 9 Presidential Debate
Location: St. Louis
The debate will have a town hall format, with half the questions coming from a moderator and the other half coming from audience participants. Candidates will have two minutes to respond to each question, followed by an additional minute of discussion facilitated by the moderator.
Gallup will select uncommited voters to participate in the town hall.
Wednesday, Oct. 19 Presidential Debate
Location: Las Vegas
The debate will take place in six segments focusing on different major topics for about 15 minutes each. The moderator will announce the topics at least one week prior to the debate. Each segment will open with a question, followed by two minutes for each candidate to respond and a deeper discussion of the topic.
This will be the presidential debate of the 2016 cycle, 20 days before Election Day on Nov. 8.
Past Debates
Aug. 6 GOP Debate
Hosts: Fox News and Facebook
Moderators, Main Debate: Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace.
Moderators, Undercard Debate: Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum.
Location: Cleveland
Candidates, main debate (in national polling order): Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie and John Kasich
Candidates, undercard debate: Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki and Jim Gilmore
Ratings: 25 million viewers for main debate, 6.1 million for undercard
The debate was the most-watched non-sports event in cable history. Fox News was criticized for not being inclusive of all the candidates at the main debate, but the 10 candidates tied a record for the most participants. It was the first time ever Ohio hosted a GOP primary debate.
Click here to see who got the most airtime.
Click here for a transcript of the main debate.
Click here for a transcript of the undercard debate.
Sept. 16 GOP Debate
Hosts: CNN and Salem Radio
Moderators: Jake Tapper, with Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt
Location: Simi Valley, Calif.
Ratings: 24 million viewers for main debate, 6.3 million for undercard
Candidates, main debate: Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich, Rand Paul and Chris Christie
Candidates, undercard debate: Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, George Pataki and Lindsey Graham
With 11 candidates in the main debate, CNN set a record for the most participants in a presidential primary debate. The debate was the most-watched event in CNN’s history. At more than three hours, it was the longest-ever presidential debate.
It was the fourth time the Reagan Presidential Library hosted a GOP primary debate. After not qualifying for the main debate, Rick Perry dropped out of the race. Scott Walker dropped out less than a week after the debate.
Click here to see who got the most airtime.
Click here for a transcript of the main debate.
Click here for a transcript of the undercard debate.
Oct. 13 Democratic Debate
Hosts: CNN and Facebook
Moderators: Anderson Cooper, with Dana Bash, Juan Carlos Lopez and Don Lemon
Location: Las Vegas
Candidates: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Jim Webb, Martin O’Malley and Lincoln Chafee
Ratings: 15.3 million viewers
Vice President Biden decided he would not enter the Democratic race about a week after the debate. Chafee and Webb dropped out less than two weeks after the debate. The debate set a Democratic Party record for most viewers.
This debate’s five candidates marks the fewest number of participants to open the Democratic debate season since only Al Gore and Bill Bradley contested the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000. It was the third time Las Vegas has hosted a Democratic debate.
Click here to see who got the most airtime.
Click here for a transcript of the debate.
Oct. 28 GOP Debate
Hosts: CNBC
Moderators: Carl Quintanilla, Becky Quick and John Harwood, with Jim Cramer, Sharon Epperson and Rick Santelli
Location: Boulder, Colo.
Candidates, main debate: Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Chris Christie, John Kasich and Rand Paul
Candidates, undercard debate: Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, George Pataki and Lindsey Graham
Ratings: 14 million viewers, 1.6 million for undercard debate
After questions over the fairness of CNBC’s moderators at this debate, the RNC decided to end its relationship with NBC for the Feb. 26 debate. This was the first debate in which Donald Trump did not have the most airtime. It was the first time Colorado hosted a GOP presidential primary debate.
Click here to see who got the most airtime.
Click here for a transcript of the main debate.
Click here for a transcript of the undercard debate.
Tuesday, Nov. 10 GOP Debate
Host: FOX Business Network and The Wall Street Journal
Moderators, Main Debate: Neil Cavuto, Maria Bartiromo and Gerard Baker
Moderators, Undercard Debate: Sandra Smith, Trish Regan and Gerald Seib
Location: Milwaukee
Candidates, main debate: Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich and Rand Paul
Candidates, undercard debate: Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Bobby Jindal
Ratings: 13.5 million viewers for main debate, 4.7 million for undercard
For the first time this election cycle, Lindsey Graham and George Pataki were not invited to participate in either debate. Also, Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee were invited to the undercard debate instead of the main debate. It was the first time Wisconsin ever hosted a presidential primary debate for either party.
Click here to see who got the most airtime.
Click here for a transcript of the main debate.
Click here for a transcript of the undercard debate.
Saturday, Nov. 14 Democratic Debate
Host: CBS, KCCI and Des Moines Register
Moderator: John Dickerson
Location: Des Moines, Iowa
Candidates: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley
Ratings: 8.5 million viewers
This was the first Democratic debate after Vice President Biden announced he would not run for president. It was also the first debate since Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb dropped out of the race.
Click here to see who got the most airtime.
Click here for a transcript of the debate.
Tuesday, Dec. 15 GOP Debate
Host: CNN and Salem Radio
Moderators: Wolf Blitzer, joined by Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt
Location: Las Vegas
Candidates in main debate: Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Chris Christie, John Kasich and Rand Paul
Candidates in undercard debate: Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, George Pataki and Lindsey Graham
Ratings: 18 million viewers for main debate, 5.7 million for undercard
This was the first debate to use Iowa and New Hampshire polling to determine which candidates were included, in addition to national polling. Rand Paul was in danger of missing the main debate until a last-minute Iowa poll bumped his numbers above the threshold.
Click here to see who got the most airtime.
Click here for a transcript of the main debate.
Click here for a transcript of the undercard debate.
Saturday, Dec. 19 Democratic Debate
Host: ABC and WMUR
Moderators: David Muir, Martha Raddatz and Josh McElveen
Location: Manchester, N.H.
Candidates: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley
Click here to see who got the most airtime.
Click here for a transcript of the debate.
Thursday, Jan. 14 GOP Debate
Host: FOX Business Network
Moderators, Main Debate: Neil Cavuto and Maria Bartiromo
Moderators, Undercard Debate: Trish Regan and Sandra Smith
Location: North Charleston, S.C.
Candidates in main debate: Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush and John Kasich
Candidates in undercard debate: Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum
Rand Paul was invited to participate in the undercard debate, but boycotted to complain about the main debate’s criteria.
Click here to see who got the most airtime.
Click here for a transcript of the main debate.
Click here for a transcript of the undercard debate.
Sunday, Jan. 17 Democratic Debate
Host: NBC News, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and the South Carolina Democratic Party
Moderators: Lester Holt and Andrea Mitchell
Location: Charleston, S.C.
Candidates: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley
New debate criteria put Martin O’Malley in danger of missing a debate for the first time this election season, but O’Malley barely made the cut.
State party leaders specifically chose Charleston because of the June 2015 shooting there that killed nine people. It was the last Democratic debate before the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1.
Click here to see who got the most airtime.
Click here for a transcript of the debate.
Thursday, Jan. 28 GOP Debate
Host: Fox News
Moderators, main debate: Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace
Moderators, undercard debate: Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum
Location: Des Moines, Iowa
Candidates, main debate: Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, John Kasich and Rand Paul
Candidates, undercard debate: Mike Huckabee, Carly Fiorina, Jim Gilmore and Rick Santorum
Donald Trump is skipping the debate because Fox News refused his demand to remove Megyn Kelly as a moderater. Trump and Kelly have an ongoing feud going back to the Aug. 6 GOP debate, where Trump says he was unfairly treated. Fox News says the Trump campaign threatened Kelly several days before the debate. “We can’t give into terrorizations toward any of our employees,” Fox News said.
This was the final GOP debate before the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1.
Click here to see who got the most airtime.
Click here for a transcript of the main debate.
Click here for a transcript of the undercard debate.
Thursday, Feb. 4 Democratic Debate
Host: MSNBC
Moderators: Chuck Todd and Rachel Maddow
Location: Durham, New Hampshire
Candidates (in national polling order): Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders
Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz finally gave in to repeated demands for the DNC to sanction more debates. The Clinton and Sanders campaigns agreed on three debates in addition to this one and the original debate schedule. This was the first debate with only Clinton and Sanders, as Martin O’Malley dropped out on Feb. 1. This was the last debate before the New Hampshire primary.
Click here to see who got the most airtime.
Click here for a transcript of the debate.
Saturday, Feb. 6 GOP Debate
Host: ABC News and IJReview
Moderators: David Muir, Martha Raddatz, Josh McElveen and Mary Katharine Ham
Location: Manchester, N.H.
Candidates (in national polling order): Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and John Kasich
This was be the first GOP debate this election cycle without an undercard debate for low-polling candidates. It was the first debate since Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul and Rick Santorum dropped out of the race.
The Union Leader, New Hampshire’s largest newspaper, was initially planned to be a co-sponsor. In January, ABC ended that relationship, citing the paper’s endorsement of Chris Christie and front-page editorials targeting Donald Trump.
Click here to see who got the most speaking time.
Click here for a transcript of the debate.
Thursday, Feb. 11 Democratic Debate
Host: PBS and the Wisconsin Democratic Party (also broadcast on CNN)
Moderators: Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff
Location: Milwaukee
Candidates: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders
In an interesting arrangement, CNN paid a licensing free to PBS and also aired the debate.
Click here to see a transcript of the debate.
Saturday, Feb. 13 GOP Debate
Host: CBS News
Moderators: John Dickerson, joined by Major Garrett and Kimberley Strassel
Location: Greenville, S.C.
Candidates: Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush and John Kasich
Click here to see who got the most speaking time.
Click here for a transcript of the debate.
Thursday, Feb. 25 GOP Debate
Host: CNN, Telemundo and Salem Radio
Moderators: Wolf Blitzer, joined by Dana Bash, Hugh Hewitt and Maria Celeste Arras
Location: Houston
Candidates: Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, John Kasich and Ben Carson
This was the last debate before Super Tuesday, March 1. With only five candidates, it was be the smallest GOP debate of the election cycle to date.
NBC was originally supposed to be a host, but the Republican National Committee suspended its partnership with NBC News over CNBC’s controversial handling of the Oct. 28 debate. National Review was supposed to be a co-host, but was removed in January after it published its “Against Trump” issue.
As the third debate of the month, it made February the most crowded month of the 12-debate GOP primary schedule.
Click here to see who got the most speaking time.
Click here for a transcript of the debate.
Thursday, March 3 GOP Debate
Host: Fox News
Moderators: Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace
Location: Detroit
Candidates: Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich
Trump skipped the Jan. 28 Fox News debate because Kelly was moderating, but he never threatened to skip this debate. Ben Carson announced on March 2 that he would skip the debate because he does not see a “path forward” for his campaign. At the time he stopped short of formally dropping out, but did end his campaign on March 4.
Click here to see who got the most speaking time.
Click here for a transcript of the debate.
Sunday, March 6 Democratic Debate
Host: CNN
Moderators: Anderson Cooper, joined by Don Lemon
Location, Flint, Mich.
Candidates: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders
This is one of the four Democratic debates added to the original schedule. Flint has been plagued by scandal over lead in the city’s water system, involving local, state and the federal governments.
Click here for a transcript of the debate.
Wednesday, March 9 Democratic Debate
Host: Univision, the Washington Post and the Florida Democratic Party (simulcast in English by CNN and Fusion)
Moderators: Maria Elena Salinas, Jorge Ramos and Karen Tumulty
Location: Miami
Candidates: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders
Click here for a transcript of the debate.
Thursday, March 10 GOP Debate
Host: CNN, Salem Radio and the Washington Times
Location: Florida
Candidates: Donald trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich
This was the last debate before the March 15 primaries in Florida, Ohio and other states. It would also end up being Rubio’s last debate.
Click here to see who got the most speaking time.
Click here for a transcript of the debate.
Host: Fox News Channel
Moderators: Bret Baier, Chris Wallace and Megyn Kelly
Location: Salt Lake City
The debate was cancelled after Trump said he would instead give a speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He also implied that he had already been to enough debates. In the past, Trump has had feuds with Megyn Kelly, complaining about her after the Aug. 6 debate and skipping the Jan. 28 debate on Fox News. He participated in the March 3 debate on Fox where Kelly co-moderated, but its possible this feud was a factor in his decision to skip.
Kasich said he would only attend the debate if Trump were there. Cruz was the only active GOP candidate who committed to the debate, so it was cancelled.
The Republican National Committee originally added this debate to its initial 12-debate schedule.
April 14 Democratic Debate
Host: CNN and NY1
Moderators: Wolf Blitzer, with Dana Bash and Errol Louis
Location: New York City
Candidates: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders
This article was originally published on Nov. 2 and has been updated regularly.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
