Winthrop Democratic presidential forum moved to Byrnes Auditorium; tickets now free

UPDATE: Tickets for this event were sold out in 5 minutes on Friday morning. Previous story below:

ROCK HILL - The venue for the nationally-televised Democratic candidate forum at Winthrop University has moved to Byrnes Auditorium.

The S.C. Democratic Party announced the change Thursday, just 24 hours before public tickets become available at firstinthesouth.com for the Nov. 6 event. The free tickets are on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The forum was originally scheduled for the Winthrop Coliseum, but was changed to Byrnes “to better highlight the University’s main campus and to provide a more welcoming environment for forum guests,” the party said.

Last month, the auditorium was the site of a rally for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The rally nearly filled the building to capacity. Byrnes seats 3,500, the coliseum, 6,100. .

The top three contenders for the Democratic nomination – Sanders, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley – have committed to appear in separate interviews with moderator Rachel Maddow, to be broadcast on MSNBC starting at 8 p.m.

Other candidates have also been invited to appear, including Vice President Joe Biden, who has yet to announce his candidacy.

The forum will be held three weeks after the Democrats held their first televised debate of the 2016 campaign. Six Democratic presidential candidate debates have been scheduled leading into the primary season, making the Winthrop forum one of the few opportunities to see all of the candidates at the same venue.

Tickets for the forum will be available 9 a.m. Friday. The South Carolina Democratic primary is Feb. 27.

This story was originally published October 15, 2015 at 10:04 AM with the headline "Winthrop Democratic presidential forum moved to Byrnes Auditorium; tickets now free."