The Democratic National Committee announced Friday that it raised the bar to qualify for its January debate, requiring candidates to have at least 5% in four qualifying polls or 7% in two early-state polls — as well as 225,000 unique donors.
Why it matters: Upping the stakes is likely to further reduce the number of candidates who reach the debate stage ahead of February's Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.
- The January debate will take place in Des Moines, Iowa, at Drake University — co-hosted by CNN and the Des Moines Register.
The candidates who have qualified:
The big picture: Some candidates, like Cory Booker and Julian Castro (who both did not qualify for the December debate), have criticized the DNC for its decisions to increasingly increase the criteria necessary to make the debates.
- Only seven of the 15 candidates still in the race qualified for December's debate.
- On the December debate stage in Los Angeles, businessman Andrew Yang lamented that he was the only non-white person there. "Fewer than 5% of Americans donate to political campaigns. You know what you need to donate to political campaigns? Disposable income," he said.
The intrigue: Candidates have until Jan. 10 to qualify.
- That means candidates on the bubble — like Yang and Tom Steyer, who both took part in the December debate — could be at the mercy of whether or not pollsters undertake surveys over the holiday season.
Worth noting: The unique donor requirement means that Michael Bloomberg won't make it to the January debate stage even if he manages to hit the polling requirements, as he has chosen to entirely self-fund his campaign.
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