The debate will air live at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
U.S. Reps. Edward J. Markey of Malden and Stephen F. Lynch of Boston, the two Democratic candidates in the special Senate election, will square off in a televised debate on Wednesday.
The three Republican candidates in the special Senate election -- state Rep. Daniel B. Winslow of Norfolk, investor Gabriel E. Gomez of Cohasset and former U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan of Abington -- will face off at the same event.
The debate will begin at 7 p.m. at WCVB-TV Channel 5 studios in Needham. It will be aired live on all consortium signals such as WCVB-TV, WGBH-TV Channel 7 and New England Cable News.
The candidates in each political party will receive an exclusive 30 minutes.
Former longtime television anchor R.D. Sahl will moderate the debate, which is being sponsored by the Boston Media Consortium, a collection of television and radio broadcast outlets in Greater Boston.
The primary will be held on April 30. The winners will advance to the general election on June 25.
The candidates are running for the unexpired term of Secretary of State John F. Kerry.
“We are pleased to produce Boston’s first broadcast debate in the 2013 special election and look forward to a timely discussion of the topics important to Massachusetts residents," said WGBH Executive Producer Linda Polach in a statement.
Massachusetts Republican hopeful for the U.S. Senate former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan, center, responds to a question as fellow Republican hopefuls Cohasset investor Gabriel Gomez, left, and Norfolk state Rep. Daniel Winslow, right, look on during a debate at Stonehill College on March 12.
On Thursday, the Republican candidates will participate in a debate in Springfield being hosted by the Western Massachusetts Media Consortium. That event will take place at CityStage in downtown Springfield from 7-8 p.m., and be televised on a number of local media outlets and streamed live on MassLive.com.
A limited number of free tickets are available to the public beginning Monday at the offices of The Republican newspaper, 1860 Main St., Springfield, from 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. The newspaper will continue to distribute the tickets until they run out.
The Democratic candidates will debate at The Paramount theater on April 18. Tickets for that televised debate will be released in the coming weeks.
Both Springfield-based events will be moderated by Jim Madigan of PBS-affiliate WGBY-TV. Madigan drew nationwide praise for his handling of the 2012 Senate debate at Symphony Hall between former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., and the Democrat who defeated him, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren.