Michael Bloomberg is unlikely to take part in the New Hampshire debate, despite the Democratic Party establishment mixing up the qualifying criteria.
Democratic presidential candidates seeking the party’s 2020 nomination have two ways of making the next debate, set to take place on Feb. 7 ahead of the Feb. 11 primary election, the Democratic National Committee announced Friday.
Like previous rounds, one method is to meet both a polling and a fundraising threshold. For the New Hampshire series, contenders can qualify by receiving 5% or more support in at least four national or early-state polls sanctioned by the DNC between Dec. 13 and Feb. 6, not including Iowa. The other option is to notch up 7% or more of the vote in two early-state surveys, the party said.
The fundraising threshold requires hopefuls to attract 225,000 unique donors, with a minimum of 1,000 contributors from 20 different states, by Feb. 3.
But the New Hampshire debate now includes a new criterion: a delegate threshold.
“A candidate’s support in Iowa will be reflected through the results of the Iowa caucus instead of Iowa-specific polling,” the DNC said. “To meet the delegate threshold for the New Hampshire debate, candidates must have been allocated at least one pledged delegate to the Democratic National Convention (‘National Convention Delegate’) from the state of Iowa based on the results of the Feb. 3, 2020, Iowa caucuses, as reported and calculated by the Iowa Democratic Party.”
Bloomberg, 77, who has missed past debates because he’s self-funding his presidential bid, is unlikely to join his rivals in New Hampshire next month since he’s not competing in the early-voting states. Instead, he’s forgoing Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina to focus on the 14 Super Tuesday states that will weigh in on the 2020 Democratic primary on March 3.
Under the new rules, those who qualified for this week’s Iowa debate will also take the stage in New Hampshire. Those candidates include former Vice President Joe Biden, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, billionaire hedge fund manager Tom Steyer, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
