Top Democratic candidates ask DNC to change debate qualifying rules – By Amanda Golden and Julia Jester (NBC News) / Dec 14 2019
The effort was led by Sen. Cory Booker, who will not appear in Thursday’s debate in Los Angeles because he didn’t meet the criteria.
Led by Sen. Cory Booker, nine Democratic presidential candidates called on the Democratic National Committee on Saturday to ease qualification thresholds for upcoming debates after complaining the debate stage is becoming less diverse.
In a letter obtained by NBC News, they asked the DNC to use the previous criteria of meeting either the grassroots donor or minimum polling threshold, rather than both.
But the DNC refused to change the qualifications.
“The DNC has led a fair and transparent process and even told campaigns almost a year ago that the qualification criteria would go up later in the year- not one campaign objected,” DNC spokesperson Xochitl Hinojosa said in a statement.
“The DNC will not change the threshold for any one candidate and will not revert back to two consecutive nights with more than a dozen candidates,” she continued. “Our qualification criteria is extremely low and reflects where we are in the race.”
All seven candidates participating in Thursday’s debate at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles signed on to the request — former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer — plus Julián Castro, who also did not qualify for the debate sponsored by PBS NewsHour and Politico.
“The escalating thresholds over the past few months have unnecessarily and artificially narrowed what started as the strongest and most diverse Democratic field in history before voters have had a chance to be heard,” the letter reads.
Continue to article: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/top-democratic-candidates-ask-dnc-change-debate-qualifying-rules-n1102361
