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Democratic debate 2016 live stream: time, TV schedule, and how to watch online

Andrew Prokop is a senior politics correspondent at Vox, covering the White House, elections, and political scandals and investigations. He’s worked at Vox since the site’s launch in 2014, and before that, he worked as a research assistant at the New Yorker’s Washington, DC, bureau.

The next Democratic presidential debate is tonight at 8 pm Eastern. It will take place in Flint, Michigan, and be aired on CNN. An online live stream will be available at CNN.com.

This will be the first debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders since Super Tuesday. And it comes with Clinton looking once again like the solid frontrunner in the race — she currently has a lead of about 200 pledged delegates over Sanders, according to Vox's delegate tracker, and reportedly has an even greater lead in "superdelegates," party insiders who can vote for whomever they want.

Since Democrats allot all of their pledged delegates proportionally based on the results of primaries and caucuses, it will likely prove difficult for Sanders to close this gap. Clinton has amassed such a lead because she's won a series of landslide victories in big Southern states. So for Sanders to catch up, he'll need to start winning lots of blowout victories in big states (like Michigan, which will vote Tuesday), and he'll need to do so fast. Narrow victories in small states won't be enough.

Given that this debate will take place in Flint, the city's water crisis will, of course, be looming over the proceedings — get up to speed on it with our explainer. Another topic that will certainly come up quite a bit, given Donald Trump's victories on Super Tuesday, is which one of the two Democratic candidates is more likely to defeat the billionaire. Expect both Clinton and Sanders to try to win over liberal voters worried about the rise of Trump.

This will be the last Democratic debate before Tuesday's primaries in Michigan and Mississippi. But if you live elsewhere and end up missing it, it's not the end of the world — Clinton and Sanders will have another debate just three days from now, on Wednesday!

How to watch:

When: 8 pm Eastern

Where: Flint, Michigan

TV: CNN

Online: An online livestream will be available at CNN.com

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