2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang met the donor requirement to participate in the upcoming debates.
Yang needed donations from 130,000 individuals along “400 per state unique donors in at least 20 states.”
Weird how I can only find this information in The Hill and Breitbart. Then again, he answered maybe one question in the first debate as the moderators attempted to prop up Sen. Kamala Harris (CA). Yang and Marianne Williamson claimed the moderators shut down their microphones.
From The Hill:
“This campaign has continued to beat every seasoned politico’s best expectations and I couldn’t be more proud of our team. We have hit this number before sitting Senators and Governors without the backing of the establishment in Washington,” campaign spokesman Zach Graumann said in a statement.The donations don’t guarantee Yang will appear on the September debate stage, however.The Democratic National Committee’s qualifying conditions also require candidates to hit 2 percent in four qualifying polls.
The 2020 Democratic field grew to over 20 candidates, which led the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to change requirements for the debate.
Yang’s polling average is only 1.1% according to RealClearPolitics.
He has to reach 2% in these polls. From CNN:
But the biggest change will be that candidates now have to meet both the polling and donor threshold, not just one like in the first two debates. This is a significant shift that will likely reduce the number of candidates qualified for the third and fourth set of debates.The other change is on the polls that help a candidate qualify. Two polls — Reuters and Las Vegas Review Journal — have been removed from the list, which now includes Associated Press, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Des Moines Register, Fox News, Monmouth University, NBC News, New York Times, National Public Radio (NPR), Quinnipiac University, University of New Hampshire, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post and Winthrop University. The DNC said Wednesday that they reserve the right to add a Nevada-based poll, if one with adequate standards can be found.
If 20 candidates reach the requirements for the upcoming debates, the DNC will do the same as it did with the first debate: 10 candidates over two days.
I do not like Yang’s policies and ideas, especially the universal basic income. As I said, he had an opportunity for one question during the last debate, but I found him the most coherent out of all the candidates on the stage.
I recommend you follow Yang on Twitter. On June 28, he made me smile with this tweet:
Yang seems like the only Democratic candidate that I could sit down with and have a respectful conversation about policy and the economy.
Good luck, Yang. I hope to see more of you in the debate, and the moderators give you time to speak.
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