The decision on whether Michael Bloomberg will be able to participate in presidential primary debates rests with the Democratic National Committee, which has left open the possibility of loosening qualification standards for future debates.
As the rules stand now, the megabillionaire and former New York mayor will not be permitted to take part in the Democratic primary debates due to his commitment to self-fund his campaign and refusal to take political donations.
“He has never taken a political contribution in his life. He is not about to start,” Bloomberg adviser Howard Wolfson told the Associated Press on Saturday. “He cannot be bought.”
For the December debate, similar to previous debates, the DNC requires candidates to meet a polling threshold in addition to a grassroots donor threshold of at least 200,000 unique donors, with at least 800 contributors in 20 different states. Without outside campaign donations, it will be impossible for Bloomberg to qualify for the debate stage, leaving him to bet on the power of his record-setting advertising buys to get his message to voters.
Bloomberg said he will continue to campaign regardless of whether he appears in the televised debates, a change from some high-profile former candidates such as New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who dropped out when it was clear they would not make the debate stage. Unlike those candidates, Bloomberg does not have to rely on debates for name recognition or campaign cash to keep the campaign going.
“If they set the rules where I qualify, I would certainly debate. If they set the rules where I don’t qualify, then I won’t,” Bloomberg told reporters in Virginia on Monday.
There is a chance, though, that the DNC loosens its qualification metrics. “It is up to the DNC. They can set the rules,” Bloomberg said.
DNC Chair Tom Perez left open the possibility of different standards for some of the six debates scheduled to take place in the first four months of 2020.
“We haven’t set the rules for after the first of the year, and that’s something that we’re doing right now, and we always set the rules early enough so that we can give notice to the campaigns,” Perez said in an interview last week.
Vote percentages in early contests such as Iowa on Feb. 3 and New Hampshire on Feb. 11 could come into play for debate qualification.
“One thing we will consider is what should the rules of engagement be after people have started voting. Because right now, zero votes have been cast. And so the voters haven’t spoken,” Perez said. “What should the rules be once the voters have spoken and we have some actual data from states? That’s the question that we are considering.”
If DNC rule changes do allow Bloomberg to participate, there is likely to be blowback from lower-tier candidates who have criticized DNC rules for prematurely limiting the debate field and forcing candidates out of the race.
A metric based on outcomes in early states, however, would be difficult for Bloomberg to meet. He is expected to skip campaigning in early voting states and instead focus on March 3 Super Tuesday states and beyond.
Bloomberg also has a long way to go to meet the DNC’s current polling threshold of at least 4% support in four approved polls or 6% support in two early state polls. He has not yet topped 3% support in any primary poll tracked by RealClearPolitics.
