The Democratic National Committee has plenty of incentive to shrink the 20-person presidential candidate field likely to appear in the first two intra-party clashes, in June and July.

A smaller candidate group could lead to a quicker nomination process and allow the eventual winner to concentrate on the fall 2020 fight against President Trump. Party officials also likely aren’t eager for rounds of negative campaigning among Democratic candidates, with toxic opposition research that could come back to haunt the nominee in the general election.