The Democratic Party has attracted a long field of candidates looking to unseat current president Trump in the upcoming 2020 election. We have seen all these candidates take the stage in primary debates so far. However, the debates coming in September will have a tougher threshold compared to the ones that have already taken place.
First, candidates will need to get more donors. In the initial debates, anyone who wanted to get involved only needed to have at least 130,000 donors from across the country. But this threshold is going up. The new rules will now require candidates who want to participate in the September debates to have 400,000 donors drawn from at least 20 US states and territories.
In addition to this, the candidates will also need to have at least 2% in four different polls between now and then. The polls must also be approved by the DNC. In the debates that we have seen so far, candidates would still qualify if they hit any of these two targets. But the new criterion is insisting that only candidates who meet both sets of obligations are eligible.
The new rules will effectively make the field of possible debate candidates very small. As a matter of fact, we have looked at all the candidates and came up with a list of those who have qualified so far.
- Joe Biden
Joe Biden has been a front runner for some time and it was expected that he would be in the list. The former vice president has dominated polls and managed to raise $20 million in the second quarter of 2019.
- Bernie Sanders
Bernie is taking a shot at the presidency for the second time and he has a pretty solid national list of donors. The Senator from Vermont is also considered one of the top tier candidates in the race for the White House.
- Kamala Harris
The June debates were definitely huge for Kamala Harris. The US Senator from California has seen a sharp boost in the number of donations and polling numbers ever since. This has naturally shot her up towards the favorite’s list.
- Elizabeth Warren
Warren is also another front runner that has seen a sharp boost in polling numbers and donations after the first round of debates. She has also cultivated great grass-root support.
- Pete Buttigieg
Pete Buttigieg has been the surprise package in this race. The mayor from South Bend, Indiana, has surprisingly outraised many other candidates and continues to enjoy immense support from celebrities in the country.
- Cory Booker
Senator Cory Booker has also been doing well in the polls and fundraising. He actually surpassed both conditions in July even though he’s falling behind some competitors in the race.
- Julian Castro
Julian Castro made a great appearance in the first debates focusing on immigration issues. He’s a former HUD secretary and is now qualified for the fall debates.
- Andrew Yang
Yang is an entrepreneur and this is his first time as a political candidate. He’s supported by the Yang Gang which helped him easily get 130,000 donor requirements.
- Amy Klobuchar
Klobuchar is a Senator from Minnesota that got 130,000 donors on August 2nd. This was after the second round of debates.
- Beto O’Rourke
The list is completed by Beto O’Rourke. The former Rep. from Texas has massive financial support which actually started during the early phases of his campaign. Polling data so far also puts him high enough to grace the debates in September.
