Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have agreed to partake in four more primary debates, one next week before the New Hampshire contest and three in the spring, BuzzFeed reported Saturday.
Both campaigns said that the agreement is not finalized and that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has yet to officially sign off on the events.
MSNBC and the New Hampshire Union Leader are set to host the first debate on Feb. 4 in New Hampshire in between Monday's Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 9. Clinton lags behind Sanders in New Hampshire polls and hopes that the debate will help her secure undecided voters, according to the Associated Press. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley has indicated that he plans to participate as well.
Clinton and Sanders' campaigns are still negotiating dates and locations for the other three debates, which are expected to take place in late March, April and May.
Sanders and O'Malley have been calling for more debates for months, but Clinton remained relatively silent until recently, saying that it's up to the DNC.
However, in recent days, the former secretary of state began urging the DNC to add an additional debate on Feb. 4. Sanders said that he would be willing to take part but only if Clinton agreed to three more debates in the spring.
Clinton's campaign released a statement earlier on Saturday proposing that one should be held in Flint, Mich., to draw attention to the ongoing lead water contamination crisis, according to AP.
"We should use the spotlight of the presidential campaign to keep the focus on Flint, and to lift up the historic underlying issues that Flint and too many other predominantly low-income communities of color across America are struggling with every day," Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said in a statement.
Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver said that Sanders will commit to the debate in Flint if Clinton also agrees to one in Brooklyn, N.Y., on April 14. Sanders was born in Brooklyn, and Clinton's campaign headquarters is also located there.
"We agreed pending an agreement on three future debates in March, April and May," Bernie Sanders' campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, said in a statement, according to The Hill. "Unfortunately, the Clinton campaign has not accepted debates we proposed on March 3 in Michigan and April 14 in New York. They apparently agreed to May 24 in California. The Clinton campaign, after not accepting Michigan, now says they want it. We are pleased to do it on March 3 before the Michigan primary provided the Clinton campaign will agree to Brooklyn, New York, on April 14. Why won't they debate in Brooklyn? What's the matter with Brooklyn?"
DNC-sanctioned debates are already scheduled to take place in Wisconsin on Feb. 11 and Florida on March 9.
