2020 Democratic candidates debate in Los Angeles

A labor dispute between a California union and a catering provider had threatened to derail the Democratic primary debate tonight.

All seven Democratic presidential candidates who met the qualifications to participate in tonight debate declared their support last week for Unite Here Local 11 and said they would not participate in the debate if they had to cross the union's picket line.

The announcements threw the debate planning into turmoil as top officials from the Democratic National Committee, including chairman Tom Perez, spent the weekend frantically working the phones to come to a resolution.

On Tuesday, the union announced that an agreement was reached with Sodexo, the catering provider at Loyola Marymount University.

Some background: Originally, the University of California, Los Angeles, was going to host the December debate, but the DNC moved it to Loyola Marymount over a separate labor dispute.

But less than a week before the debate, Unite Here 11 made its own labor dispute with Sodexo public, leading Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Andrew Yang, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Tom Steyer and Amy Klobuchar all to say they would not participate in the debate if the issue was not resolved.

Most of the campaigns did not change their plans, indicating that they believed the debate would go on as planned. Many are already on the West Coast for events and fundraisers.

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