ATLANTA — The November Democratic debate will be held at Tyler Perry Studios, MSNBC confirmed on Monday.
The network is broadcasting the Nov. 20 debate, which Stacey Abrams had previously disclosed would be held at the recently-opened studios. Tyler Perry Studios confirmed to 11Alive the debate will be held at Soundstage 1 - The Oprah Winfrey Sound Stage.
Tyler Perry and his new studio has gained national attention recently. He held a star-studded grand opening earlier this month for the new facility. The 330-acre lot used to be a U.S. Army base known as Fort McPherson. Perry made history by becoming the first African American man to own a major movie studio.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms retweeted MSNBC's announcement about the location, saying "thank you for choosing Atlanta."
She also mentioned the history of Fort McPherson.
According to MSNBC, the debate will feature an all-women moderator panel, with NBC news hosts and reporters Rachel Maddow, Andrea Mitchell, Kristen Welker and Washington Post reporter Ashley Parker.
NBC News reports that nine candidates are currently qualified for the debate, based on having 165,000 donors and reaching certain thresholds in national and early-voting state polls.
Those nine candidates are Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, Cory Booker, Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer. Remaining candidates, most notably Julián Castro and Tulsi Gabbard, have until Nov. 13 to qualify.
The debate is the fifth between Democratic candidates ahead of the 2020 primaries.
The Democratic National Committee will invite guests from local organizations such as unions women's rights groups and local Democratic activists, and each campaign will be allocated an equal number of tickets. Debate organizers have not outlined how or if there will be general access to tickets.
The public will be able to submit questions for consideration to be used by one of the moderators during the debate until next Monday, at msnbc.com/debatequestions.
The debate will air on Nov. 20 from 9 p.m.-11 p.m. ET.
Tyler Perry Studios is already extremely busy after its grand opening last month - in addition to the debate, it will host the 2019 Miss Universe contest and has high-profile productions like "Bad Boys for Life" and "Coming 2 America: Quest" filming on site.
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