It’s official: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will debate in the Granite State.
The Democratic National Committee said Wednesday that it will officially sanction the MSNBC/New Hampshire Union Leader debate on Thursday, following Sanders’ pledge to meet Clinton on the debate stage.
“It is sanctioned,” DNC Communications Director Luis Miranda told CNN.
While the news brings an end to a week of uncertainty surrounding the New Hampshire debate, it hardly signals an end to the disagreements between the two campaigns.
The Sanders campaign had initially said that it would participate in Thursday’s debate only if Clinton agreed to three additional debates in March, April and May. Clinton has agreed to two of those debates, but not to a third debate that would take place near her campaign headquarters in Brooklyn, New York.
On Wednesday, Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver told CNN that they would continue to fight for the Brooklyn debate.
“The debate is on,” he said. “We will continue to push for a debate in New York City.”
The DNC, which was initially reticent to add debates to its primary schedule, said earlier this week that it would sanction and manage any debates that both the Clinton and Sanders campaign agreed to attend.
Thursday night’s debate will take place at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. It will be moderated by Chuck Todd and Rachel Maddow.