Republican Presidential Debate 2016 Date and Schedule, TV Channels, GOP Candidate Lineup; Fox Announces Moderators for Primary Debates

By Mark Aserit
GOP debate
The GOP presidential candidates square off in another round of debates

The first Republican Debate for this year will occur on Thursday, January 14, 2016. Anchors Neil Cavuto and Maria Bartiromo will return to moderate the discussions on the primary debate, while Trish Regan and Sandra Smith will oversee the "undercard" debate.

Here's everything you need to know about the sixth overall GOP debate before the 2016 election.

Fox Business Network is set to broadcast the event. The primetime debate will begin at 9 p.m. ET while the earlier debate is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. ET.

The talks will be held at the North Charleston Coliseum in North Charleston, South Carolina. In the previous GOP debates, Fox Network teamed up with other television providers to grant temporary free access to its Business Channel.  Live stream is available for "premium" viewers of the network.

The primetime debate will present candidates that place in the top six nationally and place within the top five in Iowa or New Hampshire. For the other candidates who will not make it to the list, they will be invited to the "undercard" debate.

FBN's Lou Dobbs Tonight will announce the candidates who will qualify on each debate on Monday, January 11 at 7 p.m. ET.

In the last GOP debate, the main event featured certain candidates like Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush and Donald Trump -- who wants to be banned by British Parliament from entering UK.

 The debates will follow a similar format to the network's inaugural debate. The candidates will focus on economic, domestic and international policy issues, according to Fox Network.

The upcoming debate will be the second primary debate for Fox Business, which hosted an event in November that garnered a record 13.5 million viewers.

Meanwhile, Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul, who has been in all of the televised, main-stage debates but continues to drop in the polls, announced he would not participate if forced into the early Fox Business debate. 

For GOP candidate and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, he said that his strategy is to have good numbers in Iowa, where social conservatives do well, then finish high in New Hampshire, where voters are more closely aligned to his moderate position.

Donald Trump is the front-runner in the pack of Republican candidates. He gobbles up more than a third of primary support. On the other end, candidates such as Rick Santorum and George Pataki have failed to garner even 1 percent.