Montana Gov. Steve Bullock on Wednesday said the Democratic National Committee’s debate rules are knocking governors out of the 2020 presidential race.
Mr. Bullock became the only governor in the race when Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee dropped out Wednesday.
“Governor Inslee has been such an important voice in this race, both for climate, and also for being outside of Washington D.C. — as a governor who actually had to get things done,” Mr. Bullock said on MSNBC. “So I think as we’re losing governors from this race, maybe we ought to think about: are these DNC rules for the debates disadvantaging folks who have gotten real things done?”
Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper last week dropped out of the Democratic race. He is now running for the U.S. Senate instead.
Mr. Bullock, Mr. Inslee and Mr. Hickenlooper all made it to the stage for the second 2020 Democratic debate last month in Detroit.
The debate included 20 candidates over two nights, with the candidates split into groups of 10 on stage each night.
The DNC raised the bar to get into the third debate, and about half the two dozen candidates in the race are expected not to qualify.
The hopefuls now must meet both a polling and a donor threshold, instead of either, and each threshold is higher than it had been.
Candidates now need the 2% in the polls and 130,000 donors across 20 states, up from 1% in polls or 65,000 donors required for the first two debates.
So far, 10 candidates appear to have made the cut: former Vice President Joseph R. Biden; Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont; Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; Sen. Kamala Harris of California; Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey; Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas; entrepreneur Andrew Yang and former Housing Secretary Julián Castro.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.