The Democratic National Committee on Thursday named the 20 presidential candidates who qualified to appear on stage later this month in the first primary debate of the 2020 campaign.
They are:
- Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado
- Former Vice President Joe Biden*
- Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey*
- South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg*
- Former Housing Secretary Julián Castro*
- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio
- Former Rep. John Delaney of Maryland
- Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii*
- Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York*
- Sen. Kamala Harris of California*
- Former Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado
- Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington*
- Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota*
- Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke of Texas*
- Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio
- Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont*
- Rep. Eric Swalwell of California
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts*
- Author Marianne Williamson*
- Entrepreneur Andrew Yang*
The DNC, which is sanctioning the debate, set two ways for candidates to qualify — fundraising and polling. To make the stage, candidates needed to have either at least 1 percent support in three qualifying polls, or provide evidence of at least 65,000 unique donors, with a minimum of 200 different donors in at least 20 states.
The candidates marked with an asterisk qualified through both polling and grassroots fundraising thresholds, the DNC said. The others qualified through polling only.
Those who did not meet the threshold for the first debate include: Montana Gov. Steve Bullock; former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel; Miramar, Florida Mayor Wayne Messam; and Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts.
Bullock told NBC News' Chuck Todd Thursday in an interview on "Meet the Press Daily" that he was "disappointed" with the DNC's decision but declined to say if he would challenge it.
"I certainly knew getting in at the time I did would give me fewer opportunities to be on shows with youand others, but I had a job to do," said Bullock, who announced his bid in mid-May. "And if it ultimately ever came down to choosing between getting Medicaid reauthorized, getting 100,000 Montanans health care versus getting in earlier just to try to bump up on yet another poll, I would make that same choice time and time again."
He added that he is an "important voice" in the field, since Montana voted overwhelmingly for President Donald Trump in 2016, and noted that there will be more opportunities to introduce himself to voters before the first primary next year, including future debates.
"I am the only one in the field that won in a Trump state and we need to win back some of the places we've lost," he said.
The two-night debate, hosted by NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo, will take place on June 26 and 27 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami. The event will air live across all three networks from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m ET both nights.
Ten candidates at a time will appear on stage, but the lineup for each night has not been determined, nor has where the candidates will stand. Both nights will have the same format, NBC News previously announced. It is the first of 12 primary debates the DNC has planned.
Lester Holt, Savannah Guthrie, Chuck Todd, Rachel Maddow and José Diaz-Balart will moderate the debate, NBC announced Tuesday.
The debate will also stream online free on NBC News' digital platforms, including NBCNews.com, MSNBC.com, the NBC News Mobile App and OTT apps, in addition to Telemundo's digital platforms.
