DNC Changes Debate Qualification Rules, Eliminating Only Tulsi Gabbard from Arizona Stage
On Friday, the Democratic National Committee changed their qualification guidelines, and in so doing eliminated Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard from the upcoming Arizona debate.
The March 7 Democratic primary debate in Phoenix, Arizona will be the 11th this election season, and will feature only two white men: former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders. That’s due to new qualification guidelines which require a candidate to have obtained at least 20% of the delegates awarded so far in order to make the stage.
That eliminates only Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, the last person remaining officially challenging the two frontrunners for the nomination. Gabbard has earned only two delegates to date, or about .1% (Biden, in contrast, has 48%) but prior to the change, those two delegates would have put her on stage.
The DNC changed guidelines ahead of several of the debates so far, and the latest was anticipated. DNC Communications Director Xochitl Hinojosa laid the groundwork, and prepared for objections in advance.
We have two more debates– of course the threshold will go up. By the time we have the March debate, almost 2,000 delegates will be allocated. The threshold will reflect where we are in the race, as it always has.
— Xochitl Hinojosa (@XochitlHinojosa) March 4, 2020
Former fellow primary candidate Andrew Yang recounted his own expectations on Friday.
Someone asked me what the qualifications for the next debate would be. I responded ‘whatever Tulsi has plus one.’
— Andrew Yang? (@AndrewYang) March 7, 2020
Rep. Gabbard made her own objections known on Friday, also via Twitter.
.@JoeBiden @BernieSanders I’m sure you would agree that our Democratic nominee should be a person who will stand up for what is right. So I ask that you have the courage to do that now in the face of the DNC’s effort to keep me from participating in the debates. #LetTulsiDebate
— Tulsi Gabbard ? (@TulsiGabbard) March 7, 2020
To keep me off the stage, the DNC again arbitrarily changed the debate qualifications. Previously they changed the qualifications in the OPPOSITE direction so Bloomberg could debate. I ask that you stand w/ me against the DNC’s transparent effort to exclude me from the debates.
— Tulsi Gabbard ? (@TulsiGabbard) March 7, 2020
The debate airs Sunday, March 15, at 8pm on CNN. CNN’s Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, and Univision’s Jorge Ramos will moderate. Mediaite will have full debate coverage and analysis.
