The first Republican presidential debate of 2016 will be held Thursday night, Jan. 14 at the North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center in North Charleston, S.C. Hosted by the Fox Business Network and moderated by Neil Cavuto and Maria Bartiromo, the debate will feature just seven candidates, the fewest of any primetime GOP event thus far.
Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, and John Kasich will all appear on the main stage for the primetime debate beginning at 9 p.m. ET. Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum are expected to participate in the so-called “undercard” debate at 6 p.m. ET. Rand Paul, who did not make the cut for primetime, has said he will skip the early show and instead hold his own town hall event on Facebook.
In addition to airing its debates on TV, Fox Business will make them available to stream for free, without cable subscription authentication, on FoxBusiness.com. On mobile, the official Fox News App will also feature streaming coverage for both iOS and Android users.
When Fox Business hosted its previous debate back in November, it drew 13.5 million viewers, a record for the cable channel. That event was widely praised by Republicans who had been highly critical of a CNBC debate that preceded it.