Bloomberg could qualify for Feb. 19 debate
DES MOINES, Iowa — The Democratic National Committee has dropped grassroots fundraising qualifications for the party’s Feb. 19 debate before the Nevada caucuses, opening the possibility that billionaire Michael Bloomberg could make his first appearance on stage.
The party announced Friday three different ways for candidates to reach the debate stage that involve reaching certain polling thresholds or banking a convention delegate in the first two nominating contests held in Iowa and New Hampshire. All previous debates have included a fundraising element, and since September, candidates have had to reach both polling thresholds and grassroots fundraising marks.
Bloomberg, a former New York City mayor, has not yet hit the polling marks, but he will have until Feb. 18, the day before the debate, to do so.
Under the DNC rules, candidates have multiple paths to the stage: reach 10% support in some combination of four national polls or early state polls from Nevada or South Carolina; reach 12% support in two polls from Nevada or South Carolina or both; or bank a convention delegate in Iowa or New Hampshire, which host the first two nominating votes in early February.
Party Chairman Tom Perez and his aides have said for months that the
DNC would likely shift to qualifying standards based on actual results once voting began. But the move is nonetheless significant given Bloomberg’s unique presence in the race.
Bloomberg is self-funding his bid — spending $188 million from the time he entered the race Nov. 24 until the end of the year, according to disclosures — and thus never could have qualified had Perez continued to require debate participants to reach a certain number of donors.