Sen. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton at an MSNBC debate in February at the University of New Hampshire Credit: File: SCOTT EISEN/MSNBC

It took a week of public bickering for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton to agree on a date to debate in New York — but they got there. 

The two candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination will face off April 14 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard — their first engagement in more than a month. CNN, which first reported the agreement, will host the debate with NY1. 

The setting is significant for both candidates: Sanders was born in Brooklyn, while Clinton runs her campaign out of the borough and represented New York for eight years in the U.S. Senate.

Since last Monday, the Sanders and Clinton campaigns have been squabbling over when and where to stage the event, which was agreed to in principle in January. Sanders had hoped it would take place on one of four days prior to the 14th, because he had scheduled a rally that night in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park. 

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Clinton supporter, wrote on Twitter Monday morning that he would help Sanders “secure any permit you need to ensure your NYC rally can happen too.” The Vermont senator eventually relented.

“Fortunately, we were able to move a major New York City rally scheduled for April 14 to the night before,” Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said Monday night in a statement dripping with disdain. “We hope the debate will be worth the inconvenience for thousands of New Yorkers who were planning to attend our rally on Thursday but will have to change their schedules to accommodate Secretary Clinton’s jam-packed, high-dollar, coast-to-coast schedule of fundraisers all over the country.”

The CNN/NY1 debate is scheduled to take place just five days before New York’s primary, when 291 Democratic delegates are on the line. Sanders and Clinton will compete for 96 delegates this Tuesday in Wisconsin.

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Paul Heintz was part of the Seven Days news team from 2012 to 2020. He served as political editor and wrote the "Fair Game" political column before becoming a staff writer.

7 replies on “Sanders, Clinton Strike Brooklyn Debate Accord”

  1. Will Hillary try to take credit for the $15/hour minimum wage she opposed just a short while ago?

  2. I guess I would have to except she already has, unless that wasn’t her at that rally in New York professing the $15/hour minimum wage would continue across the US.

  3. Then why did you ask “will she”?

    And predicting that it will spread is not the same thing as taking credit for it.

  4. She came out against it. Why would she be at a rally in a state with an upcoming primary in favor of it?

  5. I’ll dumb it down for you.

    Hillary comes out against a $15/hour minimum wage.
    Hillary attends a rally in New York to celebrate a $15/hour minimum wage even though she is against it.
    New York holds its primary soon.
    This is just one example where Hillary stands for what is best for Hillary.

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