It’s deadline day, the last day for 2020 Democratic candidates to make the cut for the ABC News 2020 debate next week, and the field appears to be set.
Both Tulsi Gabbard and billionaire Tom Steyer, who got really close, didn’t make it.
DC EXAMINER – With no more polls expected on Wednesday’s debate qualifying deadline, the September Democratic debate is set to take place with 10 candidates on one night, rather than two. And a pair of nearly-qualified candidates, billionaire Tom Steyer and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, won’t be on the stage.
The Democratic National Committee required candidates to secure 130,000 individual donors plus 2% or more support in at least four approved polls, released by Wednesday, to qualify for the Sept. 12 debate. A second night would have been added for Friday, Sept. 13 had the field of qualifying candidates topped 10.
Here’s who DID make the cut:
The 10 candidates set to take the debate stage on Sept. 12 in Houston, hosted by ABC in partnership with Univision, are:
- Former Vice President Joe Biden
- New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker
- South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg
- Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro
- California Sen. Kamala Harris
- Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar
- Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke
- Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders
- Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren
- Tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang
Besides Gabbard and Steyer, there’s still quite a few others who didn’t make the cut who’ve been in previous debates: Kirsten Gillibrand, Marianne Williamson, Tim Ryan, John Delaney, Steve Bullock, Michael Bennet, and Bill de Blasio.
It’s gotta sting for these candidates to be excluded from a big debate, but that’s politics. I would expect several of these to drop out after the debate next week, but we’ll see.
As far as the polls that came out today, not much has changed since yesterday. Biden is still pounding the crowd by +13 and +18 and both Warren and Sanders are fighting for second place.