The next Democratic primary debate won’t be staged in front of a crowd amid growing fears regarding the coronavirus outbreak.
“At the request of both campaigns and out of an abundance of caution, there will be no live audience at the Arizona debate taking place on Sunday, March 15th,” Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa wrote in a statement late Tuesday.
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Despite local health officials and the mayor of Phoenix, Arizona, advising Democrats that the debate between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders could go ahead as planned, the party’s main organizing body decided against it for the safety of “our staff, campaigns, Arizonans, and all those involved in the debate,” according to Hinojosa.
CNN, the outlet hosting the event with the DNC, also nixed arrangements for a press filing center and spin room.
Earlier Tuesday evening, the Biden and Sanders campaigns canceled their election night events scheduled to take place in Cleveland, Ohio, after the Tuesday round of primaries.
The public health crisis has cast an element of uncertainty over the Democratic primary as the respective camps deal with the fallout of cases of the novel respiratory illness continuing to be reported around the country.
