DNC Releases Qualifying Candidates for First Democratic Debates

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) released the list of 20 candidates who qualified for the first prime-time Democratic debates on June 26 and 27.

There were 23 candidates vying for the Democratic nomination and a spot on the first debate stage in Miami, Florida. But there were only 20 total spots available and 10 lecterns for each of the two nights.

The 20 candidates who qualified under the DNC’s criteria include: Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, former Vice President Joe Biden, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, California Sen. Kamala Harris, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, California Rep. Eric Swalwell, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, motivational speaker Marianne Williamson and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang.

The DNC said in May the qualifying 20 candidates will be divided into two groups based on polling and randomly assigned to a debate stage. The idea is to prevent top-tier polling candidates from appearing on the same night.

For June 26, the 10 candidates on stage will include: New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

For June 27, the 10 candidates on stage will include: Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, former Vice President Joe Biden, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, California Sen. Kamala Harris, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, California Rep. Eric Swalwell, motivational speaker Marianne Williamson, tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang.

The 3 candidates who did not qualify under the DNC’s criteria include: Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton and Florida, Mayor Wayne Messam.

To qualify to participate in the first two debates — the first hosted by MSNBC and NBC in June, the second by CNN in July — candidates only needed 1% support in 3 national or early state polls or 65,000 individual donors, including 200 from 20 different states.

Meanwhile, for the debates in September, the DNC tightened the criteria for candidates to qualify to participate in the debates scheduled for September. The announcement, which came without forewarning, is meant to winnow down the crowded field following the first two debates.

To claim a lectern, a candidate must be garnering 2% support in four national or early voting state polls. They must also have 130,000 unique donors to their campaign, including 400 unique donors from at least 20 states.

The new standards favor candidates with large grassroots support, such as Bernie Sanders, the socialist senator from Vermont and 2016 runner-up. That’s by design and is intended to leave the perception the DNC is trying to atone for 2016.

The anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks released thousands of emails proving the party and Corporate Big Media worked together to handicap the primary against Senator Sanders to aide Hillary Clinton.