CNN political commentator Van Jones criticized the field of 2020 Democrats ahead of the network’s debate in partnership with the Des Moines Register.
As the six candidates who made the cut for Tuesday night’s primary debate prepared to take the stage, Jones lamented both the lack of diversity and full wallets among the remaining contenders for the White House after the two most prominent black hopefuls, Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, both dropped out.
“We now have a Democratic Party, we have more billionaires in the race than black people,” he said. “We’ve got more plutocrats in the race than people of color. And there’s something about that that’s sitting poorly with people.”
He continued, “I don’t know — I don’t blame anybody for it. It’s nobody’s fault, but everybody’s problem, because you could wind up with a situation where at the end of the day, it’s going to look like rich white folks just buy the election, and why should I participate?”
Jones’s observation echoed concerns from some voters, who told the Washington Examiner last week they were uncomfortable with “billionaires buying their way into the presidential race.”
“We would really like to see democracy belonging to the people, not to the dollars,” retiree Patricia Hoffman, 71, said.
Money in politics has been a punching bag for those hoping to secure the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, but that didn’t stop two billionaires Michael Bloomberg, 77, and Tom Steyer, 62, from becoming late entrants to the race. Both so far are proving to be political forces in the primary cycle as Bloomberg is entirely self-funding his bid, and Steyer is lining his campaign coffers with his own money.
Steyer, a hedge fund manager, environmentalist, and Democratic megadonor, announced his candidacy in July and has since placed more than $23 million worth of TV ads in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, bringing his total to $99.5 million, including digital. Media mogul, philanthropist, and former New York City mayor Bloomberg has spent $202 million on ads to date, including a Super Bowl commercial.
