Bernie and Hillary Agree to Debate in Brooklyn

The venue. Image via Google Maps

UPDATE, Tuesday afternoon: Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams has informed Yahoo News that he won't attend the debate unless it's relocated to Brownsville.

BROOKLYN, NY — Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have finally agreed to a Democratic presidential primary debate in Brooklyn, according to CNN.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer will reportedly host the debate on Thursday, April 14, at the Duggal Greenhouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard — a light and airy warehouse-type space with views of Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge. Sanders and Clinton will also be taking questions at the venue from CNN's Dana Bash and NY1's Errol Louis.

The debate will air live on CNN from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. (East Coast time).

The Sanders and Clinton campaigns have been hot-potato-ing the prospect of a Brooklyn debate for months now. In January, Sanders — a native of working-class Flatbush, Brooklyn, and as "lovable Brooklyn uncle" as they come — was the first to challenge Clinton to a debate on home soil. "Why won’t they debate in Brooklyn?" he said of Clinton and her people. "What’s the matter with Brooklyn?” (It's worth noting, too, that Sanders has since opened his own Brooklyn campaign office near the stinky, funky — and totally Bernie — Gowanus Canal.)

Then, in recent weeks, Clinton's top strategist made the mistake of saying Sanders would "campaign like a Brooklynite" while Clinton would "campaign like a senator" — even though Clinton 2016 is famously headquartered in tony Brooklyn Heights.

Cornered, Clinton's spokesperson fired back with a caveat for Sanders:

"Sen. Sanders doesn't get to decide when we debate, particularly when he's running a negative campaign against us. Let's see if he goes back to the kind of tone he said he was going to set early on. If he does that, then we'll talk about debates."

NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio piled on Monday morning with the following tweet.

And by Monday evening, it appeared the warring Democratic campaigns had come to an understanding.

Next week's wildly anticipated Brooklyn-off will take place just five days before New Yorkers vote in the state's primary election on Tuesday, April 19.

What to expect? Recent polls put Clinton more than 10 points ahead of Bernie. Then again, he's been quite the comeback kid so far these primaries — and the New York polls were taken before Ben & Jerry decided to hand out free, Bernie-themed ice-cream sundaes in Union Square last week, to viral effect.

UPDATE: Sanders' spokesman, Michael Briggs, released the following statement on the Brooklyn debate late Monday night, seizing another opportunity to swipe at Team Clinton.

“Sen. Sanders has accepted another invitation to debate Hillary Clinton in New York. We are glad that she finally has agreed. Sanders all along has pressed for a debate on television in prime time so the greatest number of New Yorkers and Americans may listen to the candidates and decide for themselves who has the best ideas about how to reform our rigged economy and the corrupt campaign finance system. It’s great for the people of New York that there will be a debate in Brooklyn, something that the Clinton campaign has long opposed.

Fortunately, we were able to move a major New York City rally scheduled for April 14 to the night before. We hope the debate will be worth the inconvenience for thousands of New Yorkers who were planning to attend our rally on Thursday.”