Andrew Yang Qualifies For December Democratic Debate

This hurdle cleared for businessman Andrew Yang is noteworthy for a few reasons, not the least of which is the higher threshold needed to actually obtain the requirements for a spot on the December debate stage. As the field dwindles down, and there are fewer candidates at each debate, then the candidates that do make the stage will get more and more speaking time.

Count this as a big win, as ABC News reports, and mark this as another victory for the #YangGang:

Only two days before the deadline to qualify for the last Democratic presidential primary debate of 2019, entrepreneur Andrew Yang secured his last qualifying poll to join six of his competitors in Los Angeles on Dec. 19, marking the only candidate of color who will appear on the stage so far.

Yang cleared the polling threshold after receiving 4% support among Democratic voters and Democratic-leaning independent voters in a national Quinnipiac poll released on Tuesday.

“We were confident we would make this debate,” Yang told ABC News during his bus tour of Iowa Tuesday. “I’m even more confident we’re going to make the next debate to keep the momentum going, because we’ve been investing a lot of time, energy and resources in the early states in particular.”

The poll was released while Yang was sitting down with the Des Moines Register Editorial Board, and his campaign manager held up a sign to inform the presidential contender that he had clinched a podium, according to a tweet from the paper’s political editor, Rachel Stassen-Berger.

Yang has proven time and time again this primary cycle that he’s able to keep digging down deep, with a band of loyal supporters, to keep coming up with the needed number of donors and decent poll numbers to make the cut. The bad news is that he’s still stuck sitting relatively low in the polls on average and hasn’t yet connected with a sizable number of voters, but sometimes longevity is key. He continues to outlast sitting Senators and Governors so he does have measurable appeal.

December Debate Details

PBS NewsHour/POLITICO Democratic Debate (6th Debate)
Date: Thursday, December 19, 2019
Watch On: PBS, CNN
Location: Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles
Sponsors: PBS NewsHour, POLITICO
Moderators: PBS NewsHour anchor and managing editor Judy Woodruff, Politico chief political correspondent Tim Alberta, PBS NewsHour senior national correspondent Amna Nawaz, and PBS NewsHour White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor

December Debate Candidates

Seven candidates have qualified for the December debate:

The only other candidate on the bubble was Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, though she stated recently that she’s decided to skip the December debate even if she does end up qualifying. The deadline is today for any new polls that would come out and push Gabbard over the top. For the time being, it looks like seven will be the final number of candidates on stage in December.

Sen. Kamala Harris had also qualified for the debate, but she dropped out of the race last week which help to shrink the field.

This will be the final debate of 2019 with the next one taking place in January. The DNC has not released any details about the January Democratic debate or whether there could be multiple debates before primary voting begins in early February of 2020.