It’s official: there will be 10 candidates in the Democratic presidential debate next month in Houston.
The Democratic National Committee and ABC announced the lineup for the one-night debate Thursday, after campaigns were supposed to submit paperwork proving they had hit the proper polling and fundraising thresholds.
The candidates are former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Sen. Cory Booker, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, former Housing Secretary Julián Castro, Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Sen. Bernard Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
The number of candidates participating was cut in half compared to the DNC’s first two debates in June and July. Those two-day events featured a total of 20 candidates each time, with 10 participating on each night.
To qualify for the September debate, candidates had to secure contributions from 130,000 individual donors and hit 2% or more in four qualifying polls.
Those were more stringent metrics than the DNC used for the first two debates, when candidates had to amass 65,000 contributions or hit 1% in three polls.
Some of the candidates left off the stage have griped about the requirements but vowed to press on in their campaigns.
But Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand dropped out of the race Wednesday, following the recent departures of Rep. Seth Moulton and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.
The same stepped-up polling and fundraising requirements will be used to determine who qualifies for the DNC’s October debate, which gives candidates who were on the cusp of making it a few more weeks to get onstage.
Billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, and author Marianne Williamson all hit the 130,000-donor threshold, according to their campaigns, but fell short of the polling requirements.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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