Marianne Williamson’s (D) campaign slammed the Democratic National Committee for its strict debate requirements, which will likely bar her from the third debate as the deadline to qualify – 11:59 p.m. Wednesday – swiftly approaches.
In order to qualify for the September Democrat debate held in Houston, Texas, a candidate must garner 130,000 unique donors – up from the previously required 65,000 – and reach two percent support in four DNC-approved polls. Only ten candidates have managed to do so, including:
- Joe Biden (D)
- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
- Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA)
- Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ)
- Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D)
- Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
- Beto O’Rourke (D)
- Andrew Yang (D)
- Julián Castro (D)
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) and Marianne Williamson (D) – the candidates who, by most measures, won their respective debates in Detroit – have yet to qualify.
“If the DNC had followed the process they announced in February and kept to the promised 17 [sic] qualifying polls, the lineup of the upcoming third debate might be very different,” Williamson’s communications director Patricia Ewing said.
Tom Steyer (D) is one of the candidates on the edge. While he met the donor requirements, he needed one more poll to make it to the debate stage. Both Gabbard and Williamson are in a similar position, with Gabbard needing two polls and Williamson needing three, according to NBC News.
Gabbard’s campaign asked the DNC to “revise their list of debate qualifying polls in light of numerous irregularities in the selection and timing of those polls, to ensure transparency and fairness,” as Breitbart News reported.
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