Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, the only two Black presidential candidates, qualify for the Third Democratic Debate, the fourth debate to be held in Ohio.... No more than two Black Democratic candidates for president have ever been on the national debate stage together, the late Shirley Chisholm of New York the first Black female congresswoman and the first Black major party presidential candidate, and Barack Obama, the first Black nominee of a major American party and the nation's first Black president....By associate publisher and editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog

U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA), a former California attorney general and the only Black female candidate in the 2020 race for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States of America, and U.S. Senator Cory Booker(D-NJ) of New Jersey, a former Newark mayor and the only Black male in the race, both of them qualifying for the Third Democratic Debate on Sept. 12 in Houston, Texas 

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief at Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog, both also top in Black digital news in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Coleman is an experienced Black political reporter who covered the 2008 presidential election for the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio and the presidential elections in 2012 and 2016 As to the one-on-one interview by Coleman with Obama  CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM, CLEVELAND, Ohio- U.S. Sens. Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, the only two Blacks in the race for president, have made the cut for the Third Democratic Debate set for one night on the campus of Texas Southern in Houston, Texas on Sept. 12, a panel of 10 candidates for the Democratic nomination for president to showcase themselves with former vice president Joe Biden and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts the front-runners.

It is the first time that Biden and Warren will face off in a debate.

Democratic National Committee officials announced last week that the Fourth Democratic Debate will be held on Oct. 15 in Ohio, and said specifics on the city and location are forthcoming, Ohio a pivotal state for presidential elections that Republican President Donald Trump won over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016 and is struggling to keep red in 2020.

The qualification criteria set by the DNC for the third debate required that a candidate secure at least $130,000 from individual donors as well as poll at no less than two percent in four qualifying polls, the last two debates requiring only that a candidate secure at least 65,000 from 200 donors in 20 different states, and reach at least one percent in three qualifying polls. 

The previous two debates, the first in Miami and the second in Detroit, had 20 candidates for each debate, both spread out over two nights, some 50 million television viewers tuning in for the two-night first debate in Miami that was sponsored by NBC and MSNBC, with half the television viewers nationwide watching the second two-night debate in Detroit, CNN the sponsor of the second debate.

Historically speaking, there has never been more than two Black candidates for the Democratic nomination for president on a national debate stage at one time, the last time in 2004 when former U.S. senator Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate, and of whom lost reelection after serving three terms in congress, and the Rev Al Sharpton were candidates.

Other Black candidates for the Democratic nomination over the years include the late and former New York congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman in Congress and the first Black major party candidate for president, former Rep. Barbara Jordan, also deceased and the first Black elected to the Texas senate and the first Black southern Black woman elected to Congress, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. 

Only one Black, among both Democrats and Republicans, has reached the status of a presidential nominee of a major American political party, that being two-term former president Barack Obama, a Democrat and the nation's first Black president. 

In addition to Biden, Harris, Booker and Warren, the other six candidates who met the criteria to qualify for the third debate are Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Julián Castro, Andrew Yang, Beto O'Rourke and Amy Klobuchar, Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan, a Youngstown area Democrat, not qualifying and saying later he will continue his campaign for president at the grassroots level, the posture most of the candidates that qualified for the two previous debates but were shut out of the upcoming third debate have taken.

Only Biden, Warren and Sanders are polling in double digits, Booker, of New Jersey, and a former Newark mayor, and Harris, a California attorney general turned U.S. senator, polling at two percent, along with Buttigieg, Yang and O'Rourke, and Castro and Klobuchar at one percent or less. 

U.S. Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand of New York suspended her campaign after failing to make the cut for the upcoming third debate, and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii cried foul, later telling the Republican-leaning FOX News in a televised interview that the DNC allegedly disregarded certain polls in determining which polls were qualifying polls for the debate candidates.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.