DNC Overhauls Debate Requirements, Opening Door for Bloomberg
WASHINGTON – The Democratic National Committee on Friday eliminated a qualifying fundraising requirement for a February debate in Las Vegas, potentially paving the way for Michael Bloomberg to appear on the debate stage for the first time.
The debate is scheduled for February 19, just three days before the Nevada caucuses.
Candidates will need to earn at least 10 percent in four polls released between Jan. 15 and Feb. 18, or 12 percent in two polls conducted in Nevada or South Carolina, in order to participate.
Any candidate who earns at least one delegate to the national convention in either the Iowa caucuses or New Hampshire primary will also qualify for the Nevada debate.
Only six candidates qualified for the previous debate in Des Moines, Iowa – former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and businessman Tom Steyer.
Bloomberg has been self-funding his campaign and therefore never met the fundraising thresholds for previous debates.
Instead, the former New York City mayor has spent tens of millions on television advertising and in networks of campaign offices in key Super Tuesday states.
The DNC’s next debate is set for Friday, Feb. 7 in New Hampshire. Seven candidates are set to take part: Biden, Sanders, Warren, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Steyer, and businessman Andrew Yang.
In The News
Health
Voting
2020 Elections
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Republican candidate saw her vote lead dwindle to single digits Wednesday in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District as a dramatic recount moved toward a conclusion in a race that will help determine the size of Democrats’ majority in the House of... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) — Monday seemed like the end of President Donald Trump's relentless challenges to the election, after the federal government acknowledged President-elect Joe Biden was the “apparent winner” and Trump cleared the way for cooperation on a transition of power. But his baseless claims have... Read More
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — On a day of grace and grievance, President-elect Joe Biden summoned Americans to join in common purpose against the coronavirus pandemic and their political divisions while the man he will replace stoked the fading embers of his campaign to “turn the election... Read More
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Democrats once dominated Koochiching County in the blue-collar Iron Range of northern Minnesota. But in this month's presidential election, President Donald Trump won it with 60% of the vote. That's not because voters there are suddenly shifting to the right, said... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he will leave the White House if the Electoral College formalizes President-Elect Joe Biden's victory — even as he insisted such a decision would be a “mistake” — as he spent his Thanksgiving renewing baseless claims that... Read More
WASHINGTON — House Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal's attitude toward legislating under a Democratic-led White House might aptly be described as "never let a crisis go to waste." The Massachusetts Democrat wants to take a page from his party's 2009 playbook, when the Obama administration took office amid the wreckage of... Read More
