HIgh stakes in debate for Democrats' AAPI presidential candidates

Democratic candidates for president are, from left: Sen. Kamala Harris, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang.

ANALYSIS

In a crowded field, the three AAPI candidates will have to find a way to distinguish themselves in the Democrats' debate starting tonight if they want to continue on the road to the 2020 elections.

Hawaii's Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and entrepreneur Andrew Yang hope the debate among the Democratic challengers for POTUS will bring renewed attention to their campaigns lagging in the polls. 

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-CA, the strongest of the three AAPI candidates for president, will undoubtedly continue to campaign all the way to the first primaries in 2020, but she too, needs to make a bold impression even though she consistently polls among the top five contenders in the crowded field of 23 Democratic hopefuls.

RELATED: Tulsi Gabbard improved her standing with her debate performance

It will be interesting to see if any of the candidates try to target to set on fire the largely cordial campaigns. This might be the time for desperate candidates to lob grenades at the frontrunners  former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

NBC News on last week announced the lineups of Democratic presidential candidates who are appearing on stage tonight (June 26) and Thursday (June 27) in the first debate of the 2020 race. (Graphics courtesy of Politico)

If Yang or Gabbard perform poorly, it could spell the end of their campaigns. 

Yang, though, is doing better than expected since he basically came out of nowhere with no major endorsements or political experience but he has the harder task to make an impression on viewers, especially since he is appearing in the Thursday debate, which is loaded. He will have to outperform four of the top five candidates -- Biden, Sanders, Harris, Buttigeig  -- who will likely dominate the proceedings.

He was among the first to announce his candidacy and has been able to last this long despite his relatively low-cost campaign. His dependency on and use of the Internet world has made him attractive to that demographic most plugged in -- young, college students and first-time voters. Unfortunately, that's the same demographic with the least financial wherewithal to fund a national campaign.

He was first to make the Universal Basic Income, or as he has dubbed it, the Freedom Dividend, a major part his platform. Other candidates like Sen. Warren has latched on to the idea and has come up with her own version of the UBI.

Yang's weak point, foreign policy, is the basis for Gabbard's campaign, advocating for withdrawal of US forces in the Middle East. As someone who has served in the military with two tours in the theaters of war, her positions carry some weight, even though they run counter to most of the other Democrat contenders.

Most of Gabbard's early support has come from the Hindu community, outdoing Indian American Harris in that particular community.  How deep that support goes, though is still a question mark and although Hindu Americans are delighted to see someone of their faith running for president, they could easily shift their support to Harris if Gabbard is perceived as a lost cause. 

The Samoan American has struggled to rise in the polls since she's seen as an outlier to the Democratic Party and support from Progressives never really materialized because they have too many other candidates to choose from.

The debate will air live across NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m ET both nights. The debate will also stream online free on NBC News' digital platforms, including NBCNews.com, MSNBC.com, the NBC News Mobile App and OTT apps, in addition to Telemundo's digital platforms.

With the loaded Thursday night debate, even Harris could get lost in the shuffle. She will have a difficult time distinguishing herself from progressives Sanders and Buttigeig and the moderates, Biden, New York's Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Washington Gov. Michael Bennett and Utah Gov. John Hinklelooper. 

One of Harris' strengths is her ability to think quickly on her feet, drawn from her experience as a prosecutor as San Francisco's District Attorney and California's Attorney General. As a member of the Senate's Judiciary Committee and Intelligence Committee, Harris' sharp questioning of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and DOJ director Jeff Sessions put those skills on display.

The debates will air on NBC and Telemundo affiliates across the country, along with MSNBC on cable. They’ll be broadcast live from Miami and air which tonight and tomorrow, 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. EDT.

NBC News’ Lester Holt, Savannah Guthrie and Chuck Todd, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Telemundo’s José Diaz-Balart will moderate the debate .

The candidates that didn’t qualify for the debates are Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, former Sen. Mike Gravel, Miramar, Fla., Mayor Wayne Messam and Rep. Seth Moulton.

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