‘Woke’ Democrats and pundits offended by all-white 2020 Democratic debate lineup

The four remaining minority candidates in the race — Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, and former Housing Secretary Julian Castro — have yet to meet the participation requirements, a mix of fundraising and polling strength. Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, only the second black governor in American history, entered the field in November and is highly unlikely to meet the debate entry criteria.

That’s all bad news for some Democrats and “woke” liberal activists, who contend the roster doesn’t reflect the party’s growing diversity and reliance on minority voters to win elections. Criticism came from, among others, Indivisible co-founder Leah Greenberg (a leading resistance figure), Jim Kessler of the modern Democratic think tank Third Way, and journalist and cultural critic Toure.

Even Charlotte Clymer, a spokeswoman for Hillary Clinton, who won the 2016 Democratic nomination in a field of only Caucasian Democrats, dismissed the current debate lineup as “White Christmas.”

At this point in 2015, the Republican debate stage boasted more diversity, with that year’s December debate featuring two Hispanic Americans — Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida — and one African American, Dr. Ben Carson.

Following Harris’s exit, both Castro and Booker lamented about the homogeneity of the top crop of Democratic candidates.

On Wednesday, Booker, 50, said he felt “anger” at Harris’s departure and decried how billionaire candidates such as Steyer and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg have held on.

“I’ve seen the bile, the anger, from my family members, to people in the Congressional Black Caucus, to leaders of color across this country who just don’t understand how we’ve gotten to a point now where there’s more billionaires in the 2020 race than there are black people,” he told BuzzFeed News.

Castro, 45, struck a similar note, saying Harris’s failure was the product of an unfair media environment toward minority candidates.

“To me, they held her to a different standard, a double standard, to other campaigns,” Castro said. “And I don’t know if it impacted her decision to withdraw from the race or not, but I’m sure it didn’t help.”

Some Republicans poked fun at the Democrats’ expense, mocking their expressed devotion to identity politics while producing a debate lineup lacking a single minority candidate.