“I’m not going to be on the debate stage next month, but I am going to be out in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina and Nevada building the constituency for change this country needs,” he said at the Democratic National Committee summer meeting in San Francisco on Friday.
Of the 21 Democrats still running for president, 10 have qualified for the fall debates by meeting the thresholds for donors (130,000 unique donors) and polling (at least 2 percent support in four qualifying national or early state polls). Candidates need to hit both by Wednesday to qualify for the September debate.
Willamson, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, and billionaire Tom Steyer have each hit the donor benchmark, but haven’t qualified on polling ahead of the Wednesday deadline. Other candidates, like Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, and Bennet, are on the bubble in both categories.
Bullock, Bennet and Steyer – who is one poll away from qualifying for the next debate – have swiped at the party’s debate requirements, calling on the DNC to expend its polling criteria to include more national and state-specific surveys. Some are determined to continue running through the fall in the hopes of making the cut for the October debate.
And then there’s Joe Sestak. The retired Navy admiral and former congressman, who entered the race in June, told ABC News he hasn’t had enough time to register in the national conversation.
“We’re going to stay, no matter what, through these initial states,” he said. “I’m just beginning.”
Struggling to attract enough attention to appear on cable news, Sestak is trying to promote his campaign by sitting for interviews with outlets across the political spectrum, from the conservative Breitbart to the liberal “Chapo Trap House” podcast.
“I think they appreciate that I’m talking to all Americans,” Sestak said.
Despite the vows from some Democrats to push past any debate setbacks, party officials and voters are confident that the field will thin out in the coming weeks, narrowing the range of options for primary voters ahead of early voting next year.
“It’s narrowing. And I think it’s going to happen,” Joanne Sullivan, a DNC member at the party’s summer meeting in San Francisco, told ABC News last week. “This party will come together. We’ll be in a good place.”
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
