Today is the deadline for candidates to qualify for the September Democratic presidential debate, and with 10 candidates already in, one more would divide it into two nights. But the two polls released first thing Wednesday morning didn’t change the picture. The deadline isn’t until midnight, but as far as we know, the field is set.
The Sept. 12 debate will feature former Vice President Joe Biden; Mayor Pete Buttigieg; Sens. Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren; former Rep. Beto O’Rourke; former HUD Secretary Julián Castro; and Andrew Yang. All achieved the 130,000 donors distributed across states and 2% in four qualifying national or early-state polls, though of course some crossed that bar easily, while others struggled to do so—Biden, Buttigieg, Harris, Sanders, and Warren hit the polling mark well ahead of other candidates, at 16 polls apiece, while Castro only qualified with the clock winding down.
Billionaire Tom Steyer came within one poll of making the debate after investing heavily in getting the necessary donors, but appears to have missed the mark. If one more poll with him at or above 2% comes out Wednesday, he could qualify and force the debate to happen over two nights.