DNC Chair CNN Debate Live Stream: Watch Ellison, Perez And Other Democrats To Talk Trump In Bid For Leadership

As liberal-minded Americans across the U.S. continued to organize at a grassroots level to oppose President Donald Trump this week, the candidates to lead the Democratic National Committee were scheduled to face off Wednesday on CNN.

Eight lawmakers were set to appear as they fought to replace interim chair Donna Brazile, who took over for Debbie Wasserman Schultz in July after stolen emails published by WikiLeaks showed DNC officials seemingly talking about hindering the campaign of then-presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

The politicians vying for the DNC position included former Secretary of Labor Tom Perez; Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison; South Carolina Democratic Party chair Jaime Harrison; South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg; Idaho Democratic Party executive director Sally Boynton Brown; and former Fox News analyst Jehmu Greene. If you're curious about the full roster of candidates, NPR put together a handy guide here.

Perez and Ellison were considered the front-runners in the contest to chair the committee. Perez was one of the more liberal members of Obama's cabinet, but he's still seen as the establishment choice and has picked up endorsements from a number of major Democratic caucus groups. Ellison is largely seen as the candidate that identifies most with the passionate voters who rallied around Sanders.

The next chair will be decided by 447 voting members of the DNC, and "aides and vote-counters for several candidates" told CNN that Perez likely had a small edge over Ellison as of this week.

Amid a controversial start to Trump's presidency, the GOP took an opening to slam the Democrats by releasing a video Wednesday titled "Democrats are Disheartened, Divided, and in Disarray." It shows several clips of the candidates to chair the DNC talking about how the party was in trouble.

Several rounds of voting were expected Saturday in Atlanta to determine who will be the next person to head the DNC. The candidate with the fewest votes gets removed from the ballot after each round, but folks often drop out when they feel like they have no real path to winning the vote. Some 15 to 20 percent of voters likely remained undecided ahead of Wednesday's debate, CNN reported.

The debate Wednesday was scheduled to start at 10 p.m. EST in Atlanta. The event was set to be televised on CNN. Watch a live stream of it here or access the program through CNN's app.