As the Democratic field has expanded to 22 candidates running for the 2020 ticket, 18 people have now met the threshold to qualify for the first Democratic debate scheduled in late June.
Driving the news: Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has further solidified his spot in the crowded 2020 Democratic primary debate, hitting the 65,000 unique donor threshold. Inslee previously qualified because he polled at 1%.
The big picture: Preparing for the historically wide Democratic field, the Democratic National Committee implemented new requirements and a tie-breaking system, stating that no more than 20 candidates will appear in the June or July debates.
The DNC set 2 qualification requirements for the field:
- At least 1% support in 3 polls from a pre-approved list of pollsters.
- Campaign contributions from 65,000 unique donors, including 200 donors from 20 different states.
Candidates who have qualified with 1% or more in at least 3 qualifying polls and who have 65,000 or more unique donors:
- Sen. Bernie Sanders
- Mayor Pete Buttigieg
- Sen. Kamala Harris
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren
- Beto O'Rourke
- Andrew Yang
- Former Vice President Joe Biden
- Sen. Cory Booker
- Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro
- Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
- Sen. Amy Klobuchar
- Marianne Williamson
- Gov. Jay Inslee
Candidates who have qualified with 1% or more in at least 3 qualifying polls:
- Former Rep. John Delaney
- Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
- Former Gov. John Hickenlooper
- Rep. Tim Ryan
- Rep. Eric Swalwell
Candidates who have not yet qualified:
- Sen. Michael Bennet
- Mayor Wayne Messam
- Rep. Seth Moulton
- Former Sen. Mike Gravel
- Montana Gov. Steve Bullock
- Mayor Bill de Blasio
What to watch: In the event that the total number of qualifying candidates exceeds 20 based on the requirements, the contenders who meet both polling and donor conditions will qualify first, followed by candidates with the greatest polling numbers, and then those with the highest number of unique donors.
- Each debate will include no more than 10 randomly selected candidates selected from a pool of qualifiers.
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