DNC Raises Requirements for January Debate in Iowa

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) raised the threshold to qualify for the next debate, slated for January, it announced this week.

The next Democrat primary debate, hosted by CNN and the Des Moines Register,  is slated for January 14, 2020, and will take place at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa — less than a month from the February 3 caucus.

Once again, the DNC raised the minimum criteria to qualify for the debate, increasing the unique donor requirement from 200,000 to 250,000 (1,000 donors must come from at least 20 different states) and requiring a candidate to garner at least five percent support in four DNC-approved national polls or seven percent support in two qualifying early state polls. Thursday’s debate in Los Angeles required candidates to garner four percent in qualifying national polls or six percent in DNC-approved early state polls.

The candidates have until January 10 to qualify:

Candidates must also obtain at least 225-thousand unique donations, and at least 1,000 donors per state in 20 different states.

— Jennifer Franco (@jennfranconews) December 20, 2019

According to Politico, five candidates already qualify for the next debate: Former Vice President Joe Biden (D), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D).

The DNC faced scrutiny over the lack of racial diversity on the debate stage Thursday, as all of the candidates, minus Andrew Yang (D), were white. Many of the candidates have a history of racial gaffes, which include Warren’s false claims of Native American heritage, Biden’s praise of late-segregationist senators, and Buttigieg’s decision to compare his struggles as a gay man to those within the black community.