DENVER — Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet and Former Gov. John Hickenlooper will both appear on the same debate stage later this month.
NBC News and the DNC made the announcement Friday after conducting a lottery of the 20 presidential candidates to determine when they will debate. The first debate will be spread out across two nights – June 26 and June 27 – because of the size of the field.
Ten Democrats will appear on June 26 and ten more on June 27.
Bennet and Hickenlooper will be joined by front-runners Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders for the June 27 event.
Rounding out the Democrats that Hickenlooper and Bennet will face are Pete Buttigieg, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Andrew Yang, Marianne Williamson and Eric Swalwell.
Hickenlooper will be able to look Bernie Sanders in the eye and say socialism is bad. Could provide a moment for him. Also Hickenlooper’s and Bennet’s close friendship could allow them to almost form a little debate alliance. Shake and Bake? #rickiebobby https://t.co/QNTyFB7gWi
— Joe St. George (@JoeStGeorge) June 14, 2019
The event will allow Bennet and Hickenlooper the opportunity to challenge the front-runners head-on. Both candidates have been polling at or below 1 percent in several national polls.