The one-on-one debate took place in Washington D.C. without a live audience amid coronavirus concerns.
Despite the coronavirus causing concern around the country and world, the show went on for former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) who faced off in the primary debate Sunday night, hosted by CNN and Univision.
The debate was originally set to take place on Sunday in Phoenix, Arizona — days before the Arizona primary on March 17 — but the Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced Thursday that the event would take place in Washington D.C. and would no longer feature a live audience — a safety protocol late-night shows and other programs are following due to the coronavirus.
CNN’s Dana Bash, CNN’s Jake Tapper and Univision’s Ilia Calderón will co-moderate the debate. Univision’s Jorge Ramos was also scheduled to co-moderate, but the DNC announced Thursday that after he"was in proximity with someone who was in direct contact with a person that tested positive for coronavirus," he would no longer participate out of “an abundance of caution." Ilia Calderón will represent Univision in his place.
Tapper and Bash return after co-moderating the second Democratic debate together in July.
The debate, set for 8 p.m. ET, will air live from CNN's studios in Washington D.C. The event will be co-hosted by CNN and Univision in partnership with CHC BOLD, the political action committee linked to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The debate will air live on CNN.com’s homepage without requiring a cable login, as well as CNN’s mobile app, smart TV apps and Univision’s digital properties.
The debate arrives after Biden won Michigan’s Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday and Sanders won the Democratic presidential primary in California. Sanders and Biden cancelled their recent rallies amid coronavirus concerns.
