DNC announces candidates participating in first Democratic primary debates
The Democratic National Committee announced the 20 candidates who will be participating in the first Democratic primary debates on June 26 and 27. Fourteen of the candidates met both of the criteria to qualify for the debates.
The debates are to be split up into two consecutive nights, with candidates randomly chosen to appear on each date.
To qualify for the first debate, candidates had to fulfill one of two criteria: either get 65,000 donors to their campaigns, with at least 200 donors in 20 different states, or obtain at least 1% in three polls recognized as legitimate by the committee. If more than 20 candidates had qualified for the debate, the DNC said it would choose participants with "a methodology that gives primacy to candidates meeting both thresholds, followed by the highest polling average, followed by the most unique donors."
The same criteria will be used for the second set of debates in July.
The candidates who fulfilled both criteria and qualified for the debates
Several of the most high profile candidates have met both the donation and polling thresholds.
- Joe Biden (will attend the debate on June 27)
- Cory Booker (will attend the debate on June 26)
- Pete Buttigieg (June 27)
- Julián Castro (June 26)
- Tulsi Gabbard (June 26)
- Kirsten Gillibrand (June 27)
- Kamala Harris (June 27)
- Jay Inslee (June 26)
- Amy Klobuchar (June 26)
- Beto O'Rourke (June 26)
- Bernie Sanders (June 27)
- Elizabeth Warren (June 26)
- Marianne Williamson (June 27)
- Andrew Yang (June 27)
These candidates fulfilled one criteria and qualified for the debates
- Michael Bennet (June 27)
- Bill de Blasio (June 26)
- John Delaney (June 26)
- John Hickenlooper (June 27)
- Tim Ryan (June 26)
- Eric Swalwell (June 27)
Who did not qualify for the debates
- Seth Moulton: Moulton acknowledged to radio show host Hugh Hewitt that he would not meet the criteria to make the first debates on June 6, but insisted that he was not deterred.
- Steve Bullock: Bullock did not qualify because of questions over one of the three polls his campaign is citing. Bullock has publicly criticized the DNC for not including him in the debate despite his meeting the three-poll threshold.
- Mike Gravel
- Wayne Messam
