Georgia Democratic Party prepares for presidential debate

ATLANTA - With a little more than a week until Georgia hosts the fifth democratic presidential debate, organizers are putting the final plans in place.  

"A lot of details are going into building out just the stage and what it's going to look like when people walk in and where are people going to park," explained Georgia Democratic Party Chair Nikema Williams.

The debate will be held inside the Oprah Winfrey Soundstage at Tyler Perry Studios, which Williams said was a symbolic decision. The studios are located in southwest Atlanta on what used to be Fort McPherson.  

"Having the debate at Tyler Perry Studios is another part of just showing where we've come from as a country, where we've come from as a state," Williams said. "Having it there and just what Tyler Perry has been able to do as a black man who was once homeless, and it shows the promise of this country and what can be."  

So far, 10 candidates have qualified for the debate, including Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders.  

Williams believes the Democratic National Convention's decision to hold the debate in Georgia shows that they believe it will be a battleground state in the 2020 race, especially after the close gubernatorial race between Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp in 2018.  

"The national party is seeing exactly what we're seeing right here on the ground.  That we are – the Georgia Democratic Party – is the future of not just the state, but the country," she said.  

Williams said they do not have a final count on how many tickets will be available for the public and have not yet determined the process for distributing them. She encouraged anyone interested in learning more about debate tickets to go to GeorgiaDemocrat.org and sign up for the party's email list.