DNC: No, Andrew Yang Hasn’t Qualified for the Fall Debate

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) reportedly notified 2020 White House hopeful Andrew Yang that polls his campaign submitted to qualify for the fall presidential debates were denied.

The Hill published an excerpt of an email that the DNC sent to the technology entrepreneur, which states his the July polls sent over by campaign — one NBC/Wall Street Journal survey and an NBC/SurveyMonkey survey — count as only one poll because NBC sponsored both surveys.

“Candidates may only count one NBC-sponsored national poll released during the current qualification period,” Mary Beth Cahil, a senior adviser for the DNC, wrote to the Yang camp. “Less than 24 hours after we hit our 4th qualifying poll for the fall debates, the DNC has revoked our 2nd qualifying poll. I have a feeling the #YangGang is not going to like this,” Yang tweeted after the news broke.

To secure a spot for the debates, Democrat presidential candidates have to notch a 2 percent approval in at least four polls. They must also have 130,000 campaign donors.

The development comes one day after Yang took to social media to announce he had qualified for the debate. “We did it #YangGang! As of today, we are officially the 8th candidate to qualify for the fall debates. We are in this for the long haul. Thank you all for your support,” he tweeted Monday.

Yang, who gained notoriety for proposing giving every American a $1,000 monthly check, would have been the 8th candidate to qualify. The list of qualifying candidates are as follows: Former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Kamala Harris(D-CA) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and former Rep. Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke (D-TX), and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D).

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) has met the polling needed to qualify, but still lacks the donors required. Julián Castro, the Obama-era Housing and Urban Development Secretary, hasn’t met the polling threshold to clinch a spot, though he has met the donor requirement.

The third Democrat debate will be held at Texas Southern University in Houston on September 12-13.