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Seven candidates are onstage Thursday night for the sixth Democratic presidential debate. It is the smallest and least diverse group yet.

PBS NewsHour and Politico are hosting the debate in Los Angeles, beginning at 8 p.m. ET. It is expected to last about three hours.

The participating candidates are: Joe Biden, former vice president; Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind.; Amy Klobuchar, senator from Minnesota; Bernie Sanders, senator from Vermont; Tom Steyer, business executive and activist; Elizabeth Warren, senator from Massachusetts; and Andrew Yang, entrepreneur and philanthropist.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., dropped out in early December, disrupting the field and making it look for a time like the December debate would feature only white candidates. Yang qualified about a week later.

The debate itself almost didn't happen. All of the candidates vowed they would not appear until a labor dispute at the venue, Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, was resolved. But DNC Chairman Tom Perez jumped in and help the university's food workers come to a deal on Tuesday.

You can listen to live special coverage of the debate on NPR.org and on many public radio stations.