Hofstra’s Debate Three-peat

In addition to the first presidential debate of the 2016 election season between Republican Donald Trump and Democratic Hillary Clinton on Monday, Hofstra University in Hempstead, Long Island, lays claim to having hosted two prior presidential debates.

With Monday night’s debate, it has become the only university in the country to have hosted three consecutive presidential debates on its campus.

Related: Debate Watch: Trump vs. Clinton on Health Care

Hofstra hosted debates in 2008 and 2012.

On Wednesday, October 15, 2008, Hofstra hosted the third of the three presidential debates held that year between Democrat Barack Obama — then a senator from Illinois — and John McCain, the long-serving Republican senator from Arizona. Bob Schieffer of CBS News was the moderator and the debate focused on domestic and economic policy.

On Tuesday, October 16, 2012, Hofstra hosted the second presidential debate of the three debates that election year between President Obama and Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and a Republican. The debate was moderated by Candy Crowley, who was then with CNN, and it followed a town hall format. That debate dealt mostly with domestic affairs and with some foreign policy.

All of the debates, no matter where they occur, are produced and sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that runs all aspects of debate production.

Related: Handicapping the First Trump-Clinton Debate

Hofstra announced back in July that it had been tapped to host this first presidential debate. It  had agreed originally to serve as an alternate 2016 debate site, and was tapped by the commission after Wright State University in Ohio announced it was withdrawing as the host institution for the first debate, according to a statement Hofstra put out over the summer.

Founded in 1935, Hofstra is located 25 miles east of New York City. It sits on 240 acres and is host to approximately 11,000 students. The private university has about 131,000 alumni.

Next on the debate schedule is the vice presidential debate on Oct. 4, between Democrat Tim Kaine, the junior senator from Virginia, and Republican Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana. The two remaining presidential debates will then take place on Sunday, Oct. 9, and Wednesday, Oct. 19.