Julián Castro has met both requirements to qualify for this summer’s Democratic presidential primary debates, his campaign announced Friday.
“When I started this campaign on January 12, I knew our team would have to work harder with fewer resources,” the former Housing and Urban Development secretary and San Antonio mayor said in a statement.
“Reaching this threshold of genuine grassroots support is encouraging and shows without a doubt that this campaign continues to become stronger and stronger. I’m grateful for the support of so many people from around the country and am looking forward to the debates in June and July.”In order to qualify for the debates, candidates must meet one of two criteria laid out by the DNC. They must score one percent or more in three qualifying polls or cross a 65,000-donor threshold, with at least 200 donors in 20 different states.
The first two debates will take place on back-to-back nights in June in Miami and July in Detroit. The debates, however, will be capped at 20 participants, meaning it’s possible that candidates will have to meet both requirements to qualify.
According to an analysis from POLITICO, 16 declared candidates have already qualified for the debates: Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Castro, John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, John Hickenlooper, Jay Inslee, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders, Eric Swalwell, Elizabeth Warren and Andrew Yang.
All 16 of these candidates have met the polling threshold laid out by the DNC — scoring one percent or more in three qualifying polls. Five candidates — Gillibrand, Inslee, Hickenlooper, Delaney and Swalwell — have not publicly said they have crossed the 65,000 donor threshold in addition to the polling threshold.
Some media outlets have counted Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan as qualifying for the debates based on polling. Due to methodological questions about some polls, however, POLITICO has excluded a poll from its analysis, leaving Ryan one short of qualifying — for now. Several other declared candidates — like Rep. Seth Moulton or Sen. Michael Bennet — have not yet crossed either threshold.
The DNC has repeatedly declined to answer specific questions about debate qualifications — including questions on how to calculate the tiebreakers and how to treat the disputed polls. The committee did not immediately return a request for answers to similar questions on Friday.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine