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Last Updated: Thursday, October 1, 2026 at 07:42 PM
Category: Politics

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NBC announces five moderators for first Democratic debate

The presidential primary face-off, hosted by NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo, will take place in Miami on June 26-27.

NBC announced on Tuesday the five moderators for the first Democratic presidential primary debate, set for later this month.

Savannah Guthrie, Lester Holt, Chuck Todd, Rachel Maddow and José Diaz-Balart will moderate the debate, which will take place at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami over two nights on June 26-27.

The debate, which is sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee, will air live across NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo from 9 to 11 p.m. ET each night.

  • Holt is anchor of "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt" and "Dateline NBC."
  • Guthrie is co-anchor of "TODAY" and NBC News chief legal analyst.
  • Todd is moderator of "Meet the Press with Chuck Todd" and NBC News political director.
  • Maddow is host of "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC.
  • Díaz-Balart is anchor of "Noticias Telemundo" and "NBC Nightly News Saturday."

Both debate nights will have the same format. Holt will moderate the first hour, with Guthrie and Diaz-Balart appearing alongside him; Holt will also appear in the second hour, with Todd and Maddow moderating, NBC News announced.

In total, 20 candidates will participate in the two-night event, with 10 taking the stage each night.

Candidates need to either register 1 percent support in three qualified polls or have 65,000 unique donors to their campaign, with a minimum of 200 different donors in at least 20 states, to qualify for the debate. Should more than 20 candidates qualify for the debate, the Democratic National Committee will use a series of tiebreakers to determine who makes it onto the stage.