On this night three years ago, the Republican Party held its sixth debate of the presidential primary cycle. Taking place in North Charleston, South Carolina, seven candidates participated in the primetime debate, while three candidates were involved in the undercard.

 

The primetime debate was hosted by the Fox Business Network and moderated by Neil Cavuto and Maria Bartiromo. The following candidates participated in the primetime debate:

*Donald Trump

*Ted Cruz

*Ben Carson

*Marco Rubio

*Chris Christie

*Jeb Bush

*John Kasich

 

The undercard featured Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, and Rick Santorum. Rand Paul, who was still an active presidential candidate, chose not to participate in the undercard after he was not invited to the primetime debate.

 

The Republican Party held 12 debates during the presidential primary of 2016, while the Democratic Party held nine debates.

 

On December 20, 2018, the Democratic National Committee announced plans to host a minimum of 12 debates for the party’s presidential primary candidates. The schedule sets the first debate in June 2019 and the final debate in April 2020, with six debates occurring in each year. The Iowa caucuses kicking off the 2020 presidential primary are set for February 3, 2020.

 

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