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New DNC Debate Qualifications Leave Tulsi Gabbard in the Dust

The new qualifications require candidates to have about 374 delegates, and Gabbard currently has two.

While Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) has yet to suspend her 2020 White House bid, only Sen. Bernie Sanders (V-IT) and former Vice President Joe Biden are slated to take the stage at the March 15 debate. According to The New York Times, the Democratic National Committee changed their new qualification guidelines for the Phoenix debate in a way that basically ensures Gabbard will not participate. To qualify, candidates must have won at least 20 percent of the total pledged delegates in caucuses and primaries prior to the debate—or about 374 delegates. Sanders and Biden both have over 500 delegates, and Gabbard only has two. The CNN-Univision debate will represent a drastic narrowing of the field, as contenders in the last debate—like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Pete Buttigeig, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar—dropped out shortly before and after Super Tuesday.