MIAMI ? It’s almost showtime.

More than six months after the Democratic presidential field began to swell, and just over a year before the party will designate a nominee to challenge President Donald Trump in 2020, the Democrats’ 20 leading White House hopefuls are preparing to take the stage over two nights in this swing state for the first televised debates of the primary season.

The two-hour showdowns kick off Wednesday and Thursday at 7 p.m. Mountain time on NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo, with 10 Democratic candidates appearing on each night.

NBC is carried on KUSA-9News in Denver and KOAA-News5 in Colorado Springs. Telemundo is carried by KDEN in Denver, on digital Channel 29 and virtual Channel 25.

Viewers will have to wait until Thursday night to watch Colorado’s Democratic presidential contenders John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet face each other – alongside eight other candidates – during the second debate, which features primary frontrunner former Vice President Joe Biden. The debate will also feature top contenders U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Kamala Harris of California, as well as Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

The candidates sharing the stage Wednesday include U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who has recently been vying with Sanders for second place in some polls, along with U.S. Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas.

Candidates qualified for the debates by meeting polling or fundraising thresholds set by the Democratic National Committee.

Viewers might need widescreen TVs to catch Hickenlooper and Bennet when all of Thursday’s candidates are on camera at the same time, since NBC is placing the higher-polling candidates center-stage and those polling consistently below 2% on the edges.

Hickenlooper will be on the far left, sandwiched between self-help guru Marianne Williamson and entrepreneur Andrew Yang, while Bennet will be on the far right, flanked by U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell of California.

The six other Democrats on stage Wednesday night are former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, former U.S. Rep. John Delaney of Maryland, and U.S. Reps. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and Tim Ryan of Ohio.

Each candidate is expected to have about eight minutes apiece to speak to what could be the largest audience yet to tune in to the sprawling primary contest. (Almost four years ago, 24 million Americans watched the first Republican debate, which featured 10 of the 17 GOP candidates.)

Hickenlooper “looks forward to sharing his progressive record in Colorado” with the national audience, a campaign spokeswoman told Colorado Politics.

The former governor and Denver mayor plans to “talk about a lot of the things they’ve done in Colorado that the other candidates are just talking about – expanding Medicaid, approaching universal health care, job growth, gun safety – and how he did those big, progressive things without turning to massive increases in government,” said Lauren Hitt, Hickenlooper’s communications director.

Hickenlooper will also likely get the chance to challenge Sanders face-to-face with what has become a central message of his campaign, arguing that Democrats risk losing to Trump if they embrace the Vermont senator’s brand of socialism.

Bennet plans to level with voters, a campaign source said, building on the theme of his just-published book, “The Land of Flickering Lights: Restoring America in an Age of Broken Politics.”

Since he began exploring a presidential run – fueled in part by attention drawn by Bennet’s takedown of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in a lengthy speech on the Senate floor – Bennet has said a major reason he’s in the race is to tell the American people some hard truths about the country’s political system.

Expect Bennet to talk about a comprehensive set of reforms he released last week, including a lifetime ban on lobbying by former members of Congress, ending gerrymandering and sweeping campaign finance reforms.

He’s also likely to point to his experience as superintendent of Denver Public Schools and in business – a resumé Bennet has said distinguishes him from the two dozen other Democrats seeking the presidency.

Five moderators will orchestrate the proceedings on both nights – NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt, “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie and Telemundo’s Jose Diaz-Balart for the first hour, with the second hour featuring MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd.

Candidates will have 60 seconds to answer questions and 30 seconds for follow-ups. While there won’t be any opening statements, the Democrats will each get 45 seconds to make closing remarks. They won’t be allowed to bring props or notes on stage but will be provided with water, and pen and paper and can use the bathroom during the longer commercial breaks, according to NBC News.

Trump will be flying to Japan on Wednesday for the G20 summit, though that probably won’t keep him from tweeting his observations about the Democrats who want to deny him a second term.

In addition, the Republican National Committee plans to fire off responses throughout the debates, relying on what RNC Chairwoman Rona McDaniel called a “fully equipped war room and rapid response team” ready to “fact-check Democrats’ bogus statements and expose the truth behind their radical agendas.”

The DNC plans to hold six debates this year and six debates in 2020. The next round of debates is set for late July in Detroit.