CNN will be hosting the October 2019 Democratic Presidential Debate on Tuesday, October 15, but first, they are set to give a handful of candidates an opportunity to participate in a special Town Hall on Thursday, October 10 which will focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer issues.
Invitations for the Los Angeles event were sent out from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
The town hall has officially been dubbed “Power of our Pride” and comes one day before the 31st anniversary of National Coming Out Day on October 11.
Initially, 10 candidates had accepted invitations to participate in the event. However, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has been forced out of the town hall after suffering a heart attack earlier this month. That takes the field down to 9 candidates with front-runners Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren among the participants.
One candidate to keep a close eye on will be South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who would be the youngest and the first openly gay American president if he were elected.
A full look at the participants can be seen below, via CNN.com.
CNN LGBTQ Town Hall Participants
- New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker will be interviewed by CNN’s Dana Bash at 7:30 p.m.
- Former Vice President Joe Biden will be interviewed by CNN’s Anderson Cooper at 8 p.m.
- South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg will be interviewed by Cooper at 8:30 p.m.
- Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren will be interviewed by CNN’s Chris Cuomo at 9 p.m.
- California Sen. Kamala Harris will be interviewed by Cuomo at 9:30 p.m.
- Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke will be interviewed by CNN’s Don Lemon at 10 p.m.
- Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar will be interviewed by Lemon at 10:30 p.m.
- Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro will be interviewed by CNN’s Nia-Malika Henderson at 11 p.m.
- Businessman Tom Steyer will be interviewed by Henderson at 11:30 p.m.