A couple of the candidates unleashed some of their harshest criticisms against the DNC over the weekend during the committee’s summer meeting in San Francisco.
One candidate who has yet to cross either threshold to participate in the debate, Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., blasted the committee for the party’s primary debate format while standing on the same lectern as DNC Chair Tom Perez.
“The DNC process is stifling debate when we need it most,” he said to some applause.
He said the party committee’s debate rules benefit “celebrity candidates” with “millions” of Twitter followers over candidates like Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.
“If we wanted to be the party that excluded people, we’d be Republicans,” he said, adding that he would continue to campaign even though he won’t make the debate stage in September.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, FILE
Democratic presidential candidate and Sen. Michael Bennet speaks during the Democratic Presidential Committee (DNC) summer meeting, Aug. 23, 2019, in San Francisco, Calif.
Last week, Gabbard also directly called on the DNC to revise its list of debate qualifying polls — part of an effort by her campaign to help her qualify.
(MORE: ABC News to host 3rd Democratic primary debate at Texas Southern University in Houston)
Gabbard’s campaign cited what they claim are several irregularities in the selection and timing of the DNC sponsored polls. The campaign points out “Gabbard has exceeded 2% support in 26 polls, but only two of them are on the DNC’s “certified” list.
In a press release, the campaign said many of the uncertified polls, including those conducted by highly reputable organizations, such as The Economist and the Boston Globe, are ranked by Real Clear Politics and FiveThirtyEight as more accurate than some DNC “certified polls.”
In order to qualify for the September debate, candidates must cross both the polling and grassroots funding thresholds. Candidates must receive 2% or more support in at least four national polls, or polls conducted in the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and/or Nevada and publicly released between June 28 and Wednesday.
Any candidates’ four qualifying polls must be sponsored by one or more of the following organizations approved by the DNC: The Associated Press, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, the Des Moines Register, Fox News, Monmouth University, NBC News, The New York Times, National Public Radio, Quinnipiac University, University of New Hampshire, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Washington Post and Winthrop University. They also must be conducted by different organizations or — if by the same organization — must be in different geographical areas.
Candidates must also receive donations from at least 130,000 unique donors over the course of the election cycle, with a minimum of 400 unique donors per state in at least 20 states. Qualifying donations must be received by 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 28 for the September debate.
The debate will be held at Texas Southern University, a public, historically black university, and will air across ABC, Univision with a Spanish translation, in Houston on KTRK-TV and on ABC News Live. The streaming channel is available on the ABCNews.com website and apps, as well as Hulu Live, The Roku Channel, Facebook Watch, AppleTV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube, Apple News and Twitter.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
