COLUMBUS – The Democratic National Committee says the party’s October presidential debate will take place at Otterbein University in Westerville.
The fourth debate, which will be hosted by CNN and The New York Times, is to be held on Oct. 15 and possibly the next night if additional candidates qualify based on polling and fundraising creteria.
The debate, moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Erin Burnett and by Marc Lacey of the Times, will air live on CNN, CNN International and CNN en Español.
To qualify for the debate, candidates must receive at least 2 percent or more support in at least four polls and show that they have received donations from a minimum of 130,000 unique donors and 400 unique donors per state in at least 20 states.
DNC chair Tom Perez has said that the goals for the Democratic debates are to showcase the party’s candidates on an array of media platforms, present an opportunity for vigorous discussion about issues and to reach as many potential voters as possible.
“The 2020 Democratic candidates can debate in Ohio all they want, but Ohioans have made it clear that their radical ideas are not welcome here,” Ohio Republican Party press secretary Elizabeth Giannone said. “The Democrats’ radical agendas, policies that will only result in higher taxes on the middle class, simply don’t resonate here.”
Otterbein is a private liberal arts college with enrollment of around 2,400.
The city of Westerville was long known as the home of the Anti-Saloon League, which led the fight for Prohibition. Today the Columbus suburb regularly tops lists of desirable residential communities, with Money Magazine twice naming it as one of the country’s best places to live.