CNBC Sets Candidate List for Oct. 28 GOP Debate

The next Republican debate lineup will look identical to the prior debate with the exception of Scott Walker, who dropped out of the race shortly after the CNN Reagan Library Debate. CNBC has announced the candidate list for the primetime debate along with the four candidates who also qualified to participate in an undercard debate earlier in the evening. Despite the disagreements last week between CNBC and the GOP field, all the issues have been ironed out including the candidates being allowed opening and closing statements, as well as the debate length being limited to two hours.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015
CNBC’s “The Republican Presidential Debate: Your Money, Your Vote”

Aired On: CNBC (Channel finder)
Live Stream: CNBC.com
Moderators: Carl Quintanilla, Becky Quick, and John Harwood

Main Debate 8pm ET (7pm CT, 5pm PT)
Candidates: Trump, Carson, Rubio, Bush, Fiorina, Cruz, Huckabee, Christie, Kasich, Paul

Undercard Debate 6pm ET (5pm CT, 3pm PT)
Candidates: Santorum, Jindal, Pataki, Graham

Press release from CNBC:

CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, today announced the lineup for the network’s Republican debate, “The Republican Presidential Debate: Your Money, Your Vote,” on Wednesday, October 28th. Moderated by CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla, co-anchor of “Squawk on the Street” and “Squawk Alley,” Becky Quick, co-anchor of “Squawk Box” and Chief Washington Correspondent John Harwood, the debate will focus on the key issues that matter to all voters—job growth, taxes, technology, retirement and the health of our national economy. The RNC sanctioned debate will be held at the Coors Events Center at the University of Colorado Boulder and broadcast live on CNBC.

Today marks the close of the five-week window for determining eligibility based on national polls. The results were based on methodically sound and recognized national polls conducted by NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, CNN and Bloomberg. The debate will be divided into two parts. The candidates with an average of three percent in this specified group of national polls will take the stage shortly after 8PM ET for a two-hour debate. The candidates who met the minimum threshold of one percent in any one of the specified group of national polls will take the stage at 6PM ET.

As the race has shifted, the two leading contenders right now, Ben Carson and Donald Trump, will take center stage. This will be the first clash since Scott Walker exited the race, though that has only meant the debate stage will return to ten candidates, similar to the first Republican debate back in August.