One 2020 presidential hopeful’s chances of securing a spot on the Democratic National Committee’s debate stage have been dashed by what his campaign is calling an “arbitrary” rule change.
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock’s campaign manager Jenn Ridder ripped the DNC on Thursday, six days before contenders have to meet the polling and fundraising criteria to participate in the first debate series, for disqualifying a public opinion survey on which Bullock was relying.
“While Governor Bullock was expanding Medicaid to one in ten Montanans despite a nearly 60% Republican legislature, the DNC was making arbitrary rules behind closed doors. The DNC’s unmasking of this rule unfairly singles out the only Democratic candidate who won a Trump state — and penalizes him for doing his job,” Ridder said in a statement.
The poll, conducted for Washington Post and ABC News, was excluded because it questioned respondents using an open-ended format. Bullock’s campaign said they were only made aware of the development this week, a claim the DNC disputed in a report by Politico.
“An open-ended poll is actually harder to register in, as voters must name their preferred candidate without reading from a list of names,” the campaign wrote in a memo sent to reporters.
A DNC spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment.
Bullock, who waited until the end of Montana’s legislative session in May to announce he was running for the White House, was previously considered to be one of seven contenders who’d reached the DNC’s polling target set in February of at least 1% support in three polls. He’d yet to satisfy the second criterion of attracting 65,000 donors, with 200 contributors from 20 different states, necessary to participate in Miami.
The hopefuls who, so far, seem certain to take part in the debate lineup on June 22-23 include: former Vice President Joe Biden; New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker; South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg; Obama administration housing secretary Julián Castro; Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard; California Sen. Kamala Harris; Washington Gov. Jay Inslee; Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar; former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke; Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders; self-help author Marianne Williamson; and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
