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LAS VEGAS — Prolific personal spending on TV ads has already helped make former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg a familiar face in the race to take on President Donald Trump in November.

Now, the billionaire financier and media mogul will be a new presence on the Democratic debate stage on Wednesday night. Bloomberg is likely to come under fire from repeat players in the televised slugfests, like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Vice President Joe Biden, for spending more than $400 million so far on campaign ads alone.

The debate at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino is scheduled to kick off at 9 p.m. ET and to last about two hours. It will air on NBC and MSNBC and stream on CNBC.com. It is being hosted by NBC News, MSNBC, Noticias Telemundo and The Nevada Independent.

The debate comes at a crucial juncture in the primary sorting process, just three days before Nevada’s first-in-the-West caucuses.

The Nevada contests have proven in the past to be a crucible for the contenders who remain following the first states of Iowa and New Hampshire, testing the candidates for the first time in how they appeal to minority voters and other blocs that are crucial to winning the nomination.

In addition to Bloomberg, Sanders and Biden, the other candidates who will appear on the debate stage are former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Each of the candidates has something different to prove.

Biden, who failed to take a top three spot in either Iowa or New Hampshire after coasting for months as the race’s presumed front-runner, is relying on beating expectations in Nevada to power his campaign through Super Tuesday March 3.

Sanders is hoping that doing well with Hispanic and young voters in Nevada can solidify his newfound front-runner status. He will also have to fend off new attacks on his signature health-care overhaul, “Medicare for All,” after it came under criticism from Nevada’s politically influential Culinary Union.

Buttigieg has risen sharply in national polling after effectively tying with Sanders in Iowa and taking second place in New Hampshire. But he has struggled to gain traction among black and Hispanic voters — crucial voting segments in Nevada.

Warren has seen her support dip in national polls after Sanders’ strong showings in the first two states. As Sanders looks to consolidate the party’s progressive base, Warren is seeking to cast herself as a party unifier who can bring together left-leaning liberals and centrist moderates.

Klobuchar, the race’s underdog, got a jolt of energy from a surprising third-place finish in New Hampshire. But, like Buttigieg, she has lagged among minority voters and must prove that her campaign can attract their support and flesh out the organizational finesse of the more established contenders.

Bloomberg, meanwhile, who has not appeared before on the Democratic debate stage and has yet to face voters, will have to prove that he belongs there. Bloomberg is not competing in the first four nominating contests, including Nevada and the Feb. 29 South Carolina primary, instead devoting resources to the larger states that begin voting on Super Tuesday, including the biggest prizes: California and Texas.

Sanders and Warren have accused Bloomberg of trying to buy the 2020 election, while Buttigieg, Biden and Klobuchar have said they look forward to seeing him answer tough questions about his record in front of a national audience.

On Monday, Biden told MSNBC that Bloomberg “can buy every ad he wants, but he can’t, in fact, wipe away his record on everything from dealing with stop-and-frisk to his foreign policy assertions and the like.”

Warren, in a tweet, said it was a “shame” Bloomberg could “buy his way into the debate. But at least now primary voters curious about how each candidate will take on Donald Trump can get a live demonstration of how we each take on an egomaniac billionaire.”

Bloomberg, who has an estimated net worth of more than $60 billion, is self-funding his entire campaign and is not accepting any outside contributions. He is polling in third place in national surveys behind Sanders and Biden.