Andrew Yang and Marjorie Taylor Greene are headed to the same San Francisco stage this fall for a live, unscripted political conversation and debate hosted by Charlie Rose, according to a Facebook announcement from the Golden Gate Theatre's promoter. The event, part of a new national series called It's Up For Debate, will bring the tech-focused former presidential candidate and the former Georgia congresswoman together for a night organizers describe as promoting thoughtful, civil discourse across political lines.
The pairing is one stop on a six-city tour that GSE Worldwide launched Thursday, presented by the crypto prediction market Polymarket, according to PR Newswire. The tour kicks off September 23 in New York and wraps October 21 at San Francisco's Golden Gate Theatre, with real-time audience polling built into each stop across seven key policy topics. Beyond the Yang-Greene matchup and a similar Detroit pairing, the inaugural run also features political commentators Scott Jennings, Bakari Sellers and Michael Starr Hopkins debating in Washington D.C., Boston, New York and Atlanta, per Broadway World.
A Scheduling Mix-Up for Local Ticket Buyers
Anyone trying to pin down the San Francisco date should note a discrepancy between two official sources. National tour press materials list the Golden Gate Theatre show for Wednesday, October 21, and an OCR'd event listing from the tour itself confirms that same October 21 date at 7 PM. But the venue's own promoter, ATG San Francisco, posted the show as “Weds, Oct 1 at 7pm” — a date that doesn't line up on the calendar, since October 1 falls on a Thursday in 2026, while October 21 is the Wednesday. The dossier does not resolve which date is the error, so ticket buyers should double-check before making plans. Tickets for the event went on public sale Thursday at 10 a.m. Pacific time.
The venue itself, at 1 Taylor Street in the Mid-Market and Tenderloin area, is a 2,297-seat historic theater built in 1922 and currently run by ATG Entertainment under its BroadwaySF banner, according to Wikipedia. It's the latest sign of the Golden Gate Theatre stretching beyond traditional touring Broadway musicals into live political and unscripted commentary programming — a shift Hoodline recently detailed with the venue's August booking of streamers Hasan Piker and QTCinderella for a live podcast taping.
Charlie Rose's Return to a Public Stage
The moderator's own history looms over the announcement. Charlie Rose was ousted from CBS News and PBS in November 2017 after a Washington Post investigation detailed allegations of sexual harassment and improper workplace conduct from multiple female staff members dating back decades, as reported at the time by CBS News. In November 2024, Rose settled a long-running civil sexual harassment lawsuit brought by three former female employees; the plaintiffs stated in court filings that after reviewing discovery evidence, they assigned no bad motive or ill intent to Rose, according to the Associated Press. It's Up For Debate marks his highest-profile return to a hosting role since his broadcast exile.
Polymarket, the tour's presenting sponsor, is a Manhattan-headquartered cryptocurrency prediction market founded in 2020 by CEO Shayne Coplan. The platform processed more than $3.6 billion in wagers during the 2024 U.S. presidential election, per a CBS News report on the company's rapid growth. Its backing of a live political debate series reflects the platform's broader push into shaping and profiting from public political discourse.
Two Very Different Political Trajectories
Yang, who ran in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary and the 2021 New York City mayoral race, co-founded the centrist Forward Party in October 2021. That party has since gained official minor-party ballot status in states including New Mexico and Colorado ahead of the 2026 midterm cycle, according to Organ Mountain News. Yang's political orbit has also generated local friction before: Hoodline previously reported on accusations that allies of his were behind alleged mayoral campaign dirty tricks.
Greene served in the U.S. House representing Georgia from 2021 until her resignation in January 2026 — a departure that triggered a special election Hoodline covered as early voting began in her old 14th District. Her history with California venues has been rocky before: in July 2021, three Southern California locations backed out of hosting her over public safety concerns and community opposition, Forbes reported at the time. Whether that history resurfaces around her San Francisco appearance remains to be seen, but it's a track record local organizers will likely be watching closely as October approaches.
