Remaining contenders for the Democratic nomination will debate Wednesday night in Las Vegas ahead of Saturday’s caucuses in Nevada. The Democratic National Committee recently altered the criteria for debates, most notably by eliminating the individual donor threshold. Previously, candidates had to obtain a substantial number of individual donors to prove that they had a real path to victory.
New: Bloomberg qualifies for tomorrow night's NBC News Democratic debate.
— Amanda Golden (@amandawgolden) February 18, 2020
The debate lineup:
- Joe Biden
- Michael Bloomberg
- Pete Buttigieg
- Amy Klobuchar
- Bernie Sanders
- Elizabeth Warrenhttps://t.co/S1VKVE3MW0
The elimination of this requirement paved the way for former Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg to be present on the stage; Bloomberg’s campaign is virtually self-funded, so if the donor threshold remained a requirement, he likely would not have qualified. The DNC also raised the threshold for polling requirements: candidates had to reach 10 points in four national polls, or 12 points in two polls from Nevada or South Carolina. Mayor Bloomberg was able to reach this threshold, via an NPR/Marist/PBS poll released Tuesday morning, which marked the fourth national poll he came in above 10 percent. The poll has Bloomberg at 19 percent, in second place behind Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT), among Democratic voters and left-leaning Independents.
Bernie Sanders is leading by double digits among voters in the Democratic primary race, a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds.https://t.co/wWxinZYa8q
— NPR (@NPR) February 18, 2020
Mayor Bloomberg's presence in the race for the Democratic nomination has stirred an abundance of controversy among both the candidates and progressive voters. Bloomberg receives criticism from Democrats across the spectrum for "buying" the nomination.
The Democratic contenders will take the debate stage Wednesday night at 9 p.m. for the final time before Nevada voters head to the polls.