This week's debates in Detroit was the last time you will see 20 Democratic presidential candidates for the 2020 presidential nomination debating on stage together.
That is by design per the Democratic National Committee.
To be on the stage for the Detroit debates, candidates had to qualify either by having received donations from 65,000 unique donors in at least 20 states or by getting 1 percent support in three polls sanctioned by the DNC.
The requirements to get on the debate stage for the next debate to be held in September will be twice as difficult.
To be included in the September and October debates, candidates must meet both a polling and donor threshold. Each candidate must have at least a 2 percent representation in four national DNC-approved polls and must have at least 130,000 unique donors coming from at least 400 unique donors in 20 or more states.
Aug.28 is the deadline to reach the qualifications for inclusion in the September debate.
If a candidate does not qualify for the September debate, they may still qualify for the October debate.
One bright spot for those struggling to get traction in the polls is that poll support does not have to be enduring. In other words, once you meet the requirement for support in the polls, you have met it.
Of the 23 candidates still running for the Democratic presidential nomination, seven have qualified to take part in the next debate, they are:
- Former Vice President Joe Biden
- Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey
- South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg
- Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California
- Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-Texas
- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts
Six other candidates have some part of the required numbers to get on stage.
Both Andrew Yang, an entrepreneur, and Julián Castro, the former housing secretary, have surpassed 130,000 donations and have logged three of the four qualifying polls needed.
Yang announced on Monday that he had reached his fourth 2 percent poll, but was informed by the DNC on Tuesday that one of his poll submissions would be disqualified because he submitted two polls that included the same source NBC. Yang submitted an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll and an NBC/Survey Monkey poll.
Yang is still expected to get a fourth poll following his performance in this week’s debate.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, has met the polling requirement but is about 10,000 donors short of the donation requirement.
Three candidates, Tom Steyer, a businessman and philanthropist who has lobbied for Trump’s impeachment, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, have at least one qualifying poll.
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