The Democratic National Committee has announced that 20 candidates have qualified for the party’s first presidential debates later this month.
Montana governor Steve Bullock and representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts were the only major candidates out of the two dozen hopefuls who failed to meet the polling or grassroots fundraising targets needed to get a debate spot.
Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado and New York mayor Bill de Blasio both made the debate based on polling measures.
The first two-hour session on NBC features Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Beto O’Rourke, Amy Klobuchar, Julian Castro, Bill de Blasio, John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, Tim Ryan and Jay Inslee.
The second night features Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Michael Bennet, Marianne Williamson, Eric Swalwell, Kirsten Gillibrand, Andrew Yang and John Hickenlooper.
The Democratic National Committee says it divided the candidates at random but ensured that contenders considered front-runners would not be stacked on one night to avoid the impression that one night was more important than the other.
The line-ups will determine the debate strategies for many campaigns. Candidates will have to decide whether to go after front-runners such as Mr Biden, challenge others in the pack, or stand out by remaining above the fray. They must also decide how much to focus on President Donald Trump.
Mr Bullock’s campaign insists he has reached a party benchmark of a minimum 1% in at least three polls by approved organisations, but party officials say he is wrongly counting a Washington Post-ABC poll from February.
He said he was “certainly disappointed” by the DNC’s decision.
“But the greater point really is also that I’m the only one in the field that’s actually won in a Trump state, and we need to win back some of the places we’ve lost,” he said on MSNBC.
The polling and fundraising marks will double for the third and fourth debates in September and October. Candidates will have to meet both marks instead of one or the other. That means 2% in the approved polls and a donor list of at least 130,000 unique contributors.
“Fighting with the DNC is a little like fighting with the weather,” he said. “You can rage against the storm, but you will not have great effect. I think the rules are the rules.”
– Full list of candidates:
Michael Bennet, senator from Colorado
Joe Biden, former vice president
Cory Booker, senator from New Jersey
Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana
Julian Castro, former housing and urban development secretary
Bill de Blasio, mayor of New York City
John Delaney, former congressman from Maryland
Tulsi Gabbard, congresswoman from Hawaii
Kirsten Gillibrand, senator from New York
Kamala Harris, senator from California
John Hickenlooper, former Colorado governor
Jay Inslee, Washington governor
Amy Klobuchar, senator from Minnesota
Beto O’Rourke, former congressman from Texas
Tim Ryan, congressman from Ohio
Bernie Sanders, senator from Vermont
Eric Swalwell, congressman from California
Elizabeth Warren, senator from Massachusetts
Marianne Williamson, author and spiritual guru
Andrew Yang, entrepreneur
