Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) on Monday announced that, regardless of qualifying polls, she will not attend the December 19 Democrat debate.
Gabbard, who has faced criticism from key members of the Democrat Party throughout her presidential bid, announced on Monday that even if she meets the polling requirement to qualify in the upcoming debate, she will not attend. Instead, she will “spend that precious time directly meeting with and hearing from the people of New Hampshire and South Carolina.”
“For a number of reasons, I have decided not to attend the December 19th ‘debate’ — regardless of whether or not there are qualifying polls,” she announced.
“I instead choose to spend that precious time directly meeting with and hearing from the people of New Hampshire and South Carolina,” she added:
For a number of reasons, I have decided not to attend the December 19th "debate" — regardless of whether or not there are qualifying polls. I instead choose to spend that precious time directly meeting with and hearing from the people of New Hampshire and South Carolina.
— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) December 10, 2019
In order to qualify for the Los Angeles debate, a candidate must report at least 200,000 unique donors and garner either six percent support in two early state polls or reach four percent in four national or early state polls. At this point, only six candidates have qualified: Joe Biden (D), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Tom Steyer (D), and Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D). While Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) qualified, she dropped out of the race last week.
Gabbard has met the donor threshold and is only one poll away from qualifying. Regardless, she will not participate.
The remaining candidates have until December 12 to qualify.
Democrats have faced scrutiny from their own side over the racial composition of the current debate lineup. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said he was “a little angry” after Harris dropped out because they originally “started with one of the most diverse fields in our history.”
“And we’re spiraling towards a debate stage that potentially … could have six people with no diversity whatsoever,” Booker told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes last week.
“What we’re staring at is a DNC debate stage with no people of color on it,” Julián Castro (D) said. “That does not reflect the diversity of our party or our country. We need to do better than that”:
With @KamalaHarris out, the debate stage is now all white. @JulianCastro responds:
“What we’re staring at is a DNC debate stage with no people of color on it. That does not reflect the diversity of our party or our country. We need to do better than that.” pic.twitter.com/W73Nw3WI14
— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) December 3, 2019
More:
Kamala Harris officially ended her campaign today, which means that all of the candidates who currently qualify for the December Democratic debate are white (Sanders, Warren, Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Steyer).
White supremacy is not just a Fox News problem, folks.
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 3, 2019
There was a coordinated right wing campaign against Harris, and a lot of those talking points were taken up by liberals, and now we’re set to have an all white debate stage. That’s how this works. We’re not immune because we’re liberal.
— Ashley Nicole Black (@ashleyn1cole) December 3, 2019
If Kamala Harris is dropping out today, as is being reported, that means–among other things–that no candidates of color are yet slated for the December debate. Six white candidates have qualified. Folks, that's a huge red flag, and we need to talk about it.
— Charlotte Clymer🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) December 3, 2019
Kamala Harris’ campaign was historic — a black and South Asian female candidate whose potential seemed sky high early on.
Her dropping out means that every candidate that’s qualified so far for the next debate is white: Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Sanders, Steyer and Warren.
— MJ Lee (@mj_lee) December 3, 2019
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