Aug. 30 (UPI) — There will be just one night of debate in Houston next month among the Democratic field running for president.
The party’s deadline to qualify for the debate in Houston passed Wednesday night with 10 candidates meeting the more stringent criteria. ABC News will broadcast and moderate the debate Sept. 12.
The qualifying candidates are former Vice President Joe Biden, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Housing Secretary Julián Castro, California Sen. Kamala Harris, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
All 10 met new qualifying criteria of at least 130,000 individual donors and at least 2 percent support in four qualifying polls.
Several Democrats still in the race will not appear at the debate: philanthropist Tom Steyer, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, author Marianne Williamson, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, former Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Sestak and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand withdrew from the race Wednesday evening, and experts say others may soon follow after failing to qualify by the deadline.
Steyer, Williamson and Gabbard all satisfied the donor requirement but did not have sufficient poll support.
The Houston debate will be the first at which all the Democratic candidates taking part in the debate are on the stage at the same time. Prior debates in Miami and Detroit this summer were split into two-night events, featuring 10 contenders each night.
The Democratic Party noted, however, that all candidates — even those who didn’t clinch a slot for Houston — can still qualify for the fourth primary debate, which is scheduled for October. A venue hasn’t been announced.
The debate will be televised by Univision with Spanish translation along with the streaming channel ABC News Live. It also will be available on the ABCNews.com website and apps, as well as Hulu Live, The Roku Channel, and Facebook Watch.
