The group of Republican 2016 presidential hopefuls had their shot last month, and now it's the Democrats' turn. The first debate among Democratic 2016 presidential candidates will take place Oct. 13 in Las Vegas at the Wynn Las Vegas casino hotel. The debate will air on CNN at 9:00 p.m. ET, and it will also be available for live-streaming (no authentication required) at CNN.com and through CNN's apps for Android and iOS. But who exactly is in the Democratic debate? So far, five candidates are confirmed to participate in next week's event.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee will all be participating in next week's CNN debate. Anderson Cooper, host of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, will serve as the debate's moderator. There's also one significant benefit to the fact that the Democratic 2016 presidential debate will feature just five candidates, as compared with last month's GOP debate featuring 11 candidates. While the GOP debate lasted roughly three hours, the Democratic debate is expected to last just two hours. And this time, unlike three of the GOP presidential hopefuls — Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, and Ben Carson — all of the Democratic presidential candidates have backgrounds in politics.
1. Hillary Clinton
Clinton served as the country's 67th secretary of state, and she was in office from 2009 to 2013. Clinton also served as first lady during her husband, Bill Clinton's, presidency from 1993 to 2001. In addition, Clinton was a U.S. senator from New York from 2001 to 2009.
2. Bernie Sanders
Sanders, who describes himself as a socialist, has been a U.S. senator from Vermont since 2007. Before that, Sanders was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1991 to 2007. Sanders was also the mayor of Burlington, Vt., from 1981 to 1989.
3. Martin O'Malley
O'Malley served as Maryland's governor from 2007 to 2015. Previously, he was the mayor of Baltimore, Md., from 1999 to 2007.
4. Jim Webb
Webb served as a U.S. senator from Virginia from 2007 to 2013. He also served as the U.S. secretary of the navy from 1987 to 1988 and as the U.S. assistant secretary of defense for Reserve Affairs from 1984 to 1987.
5. Lincoln Chafee
Chafee served as Rhode Island's governor from 2011 to 2015. He was also a U.S. senator from Rhode Island from 1999 to 2007. Before becoming a U.S. senator, Chafee was the mayor of Warwick, R.I., from 1993 to 1999.
If CNN has its way, there may be a sixth name added to this list — the network made clear that if Vice President Joe Biden announces a 2016 presidential bid by the time of the debate, he is welcome to participate. Biden, however, hasn't indicated any interest in participating in the event so far, but should he make a late entry, it'll definitely generate huge buzz for what will likely be just a run-of-the-mill debate.
