In a bid to mollify Democrats complaining the party isn’t sanctioning enough presidential debates, the Democratic National Committee has added a candidate forum just a month after the first primary debate.
Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., will host the event, which will take place on Nov. 6. at Winthrop University in South Carolina, CNN first reported. All the Democratic candidates will be invited to the forum, which will reportedly focus on the “New South.”
DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz signed off on the event just days after throngs of Democratic protesters gathered outside party headquarters in Washington, D.C., to call for more debates. Each of the five Democratic candidates have been invited to participate in the new event.
“I’m thrilled that the South Carolina Democratic Party and Congressman Clyburn are hosting this important Democratic presidential candidate forum and that we were able to help,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement on Friday. “This will be one of many opportunities to hear from our party’s candidates.”
Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley have both called for more debates, saying the current process favors front-runner Hillary Clinton. The DNC has allotted for only six sanctioned debates, and will disqualify any candidate who participates in a non-sanctioned one.
