Michael Bloomberg will have his first chance at appearing in a Democratic presidential debate due to a Democratic National Committee rule change announced Friday.
Previous debates have required candidates to meet a minimum requirement of donors, blocking the former New York mayor, a billionaire who is self-funding his bid and not accepting campaign contributions, from appearing on the debate stage.
New rules for the Feb. 19 debate in Nevada allow two methods to make the stage with no donor requirement: receive at least one nominating delegate to the Democratic National Convention as a result of the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses or Feb. 11 New Hampshire primary, or meet a polling threshold by receiving 10% support in at least four DNC-approved state or national polls or 12% support in two early state polls in South Carolina and Nevada. The polls must be released between Jan. 15 and midnight on Feb. 18.
So far, Bloomberg, 77, and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, 38, each have one qualifying 10% poll, according to Politico’s debate poll tracker. Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have all already passed the polling threshold. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and entrepreneur Andrew Yang, both set to appear in the Feb. 7 debate in New Hampshire, have not earned any qualifying polls.
The polling threshold is double the DNC standard for the Feb. 7 debate in New Hampshire, where candidates must meet 225,000 individual donors plus 5% in four DNC-approved polls or 7% support in two single-state polls.
Bloomberg is skipping competing in the first four early nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, instead concentrating on a high-cost campaign that focuses on winning delegates that vote on March 3 Super Tuesday states and beyond. He has already spent more than $225 million on advertisements since his November campaign launch and will air an $11 million Super Bowl ad on Sunday.
[Read more: Zogby: Bloomberg threat real, only Democrat leading Trump]
