Democrat presidential hopeful and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro qualified Tuesday for the third Democrat presidential primary debates in September.
Initially, Castro had reached the 130,000 donor threshold enforced by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), but he lacked adequate polling numbers. That changed after CNN released a poll showing Castro with at least two percent support from voters. Along with three other DNC-approved polls showing Castro with at least two percent support, he was able to advance to the next round.
The CNN poll was released early Tuesday morning and was conducted between August 15 and August 18.
Castro is now the tenth presidential hopeful to secure a spot on the fall debate stage. Castro joins former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), former Democrat Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Andrew Yang.
Candidates have a deadline of August 28 to qualify for the third debate, which is set to take place on September 12 in Houston, Texas.
“We just proved that someone who wasn’t born a frontrunner, who’s from an immigrant family, who was raised by a single mom can become president too. !Vamonos!,” Castro stated in an email to his supporters.
“Let’s keep up the momentum,” Castro said in a video message on Twitter. “We’ll make you proud in Houston.”
Billionaire Tom Steyer, who has cleared the donor threshold, is one poll away from qualifying for the debate stage. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), who has reached the donor threshold and also received two percent support in the new CNN poll, still needs two more qualifying polls to reach the debate stage.
Both Marianne Williamson and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee have cleared the donor threshold but do not have two percent support in any qualifying poll.
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