Which Democratic Candidate Will Be the Next to Exit the Presidential Race?
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand formally dropped out of the presidential race Wednesday night, joining Jay Inslee and John Hickenloper, who said they were dropping out ahead of the debate. After Wednesday’s deadline, only 10 candidates qualified for the Houston debate, which means we’ll see a much smaller pool of presidential candidates on stage in September.
But how many candidates are left in the race? Who can be next?
Why did Gillibrand leave?
Because she failed to qualify for the third round of the debate. To qualify, a senator must have received donations from at least 130,000 people (and 400 donors in 20 or more states) and at least 2% support in four DNC- approved polls.
After not making a splash during the debates in Miami and Detroit and struggling to get contributions from influential Democratic donors , her retirement from the race came as no surprise. According to the New York Times , Gillibrand plans to return to the Senate and revive a committee designed to secure more positions for women in Congress in 2020.
Who made it to the third round of the debate?
10 candidates have officially qualified by Wednesday’s deadline. These candidates include:
- Former Vice President Joe Biden
- Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders
- Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren
- South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigig
- Senator from California Kamala Harris
- Senator from New Jersey Corey Booker
- Former Minister of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro
- Senator from Minnesota Amy Klobuchar
- Former Texas representative. Beto O’Rourke
- Entrepreneur Andrew Young
Gillibrand joins Jay Inslee, John Hickenloper, Seth Moulton and Eric Swalwell, who have dropped out of the race in recent weeks.
Who did not qualify for the debate?
Several candidates did not qualify for the third round of debates – this does not mean that they are eliminated from the race for now. These candidates include:
- Governor of Montana Steve Bullock
- New York Mayor Bill de Blasio
- Colorado Senator Michael Bennett
- Former representative of Maryland. John Delaney
- Hawaii rep. Tulsi Gabbard
- Ohio rep. Tim Ryan
- Written by Marianne Williamson
- Financier Tom Steyer
Who will be next to exit the presidential race?
Here’s the catch: to qualify for the fourth round of debates in October, candidates must meet the same qualifications as September. In other words, candidates can raise money or improve voting results over a much longer period; for this reason, at least a few candidates will remain until October.
Of the unqualified candidates, only Gabbard, Steyer and Williamson came close, so it is unlikely that either of them will drop out next month. ( Steyer was just one point short of qualifying for the September debate.)
After failing to qualify, Delaney and Ryan reaffirmed their commitment to their campaigns. “We’re moving forward,” Ryan said Thursday in Morning Joe . “It won’t stop us in any way … we get approval every now and then.” And in an article published yesterday in the Atlantic , Bennett has already pledged to remain in the race until the 2020 Iowa Caucuses in February.
All this leaves us with Bullock and de Blasio, our predictions for the elimination of the next candidates from the race. Following the disastrous AMA on Reddit on Wednesday, Bullock has yet to address his re-qualification. (And while he ruled out campaigning for the Montana Senate if he lost the presidential candidacy, at least some Democratic leaders pleaded with him to run.)
Meanwhile, de Blasio remained silent on all social media in the early hours after Wednesday’s deadline. However, as reported by the New York Post , a “desperate” fundraising email spoke of de Blasio’s intention to move towards October. If that was our guess, wait for the next announcement from Bullock or the Mayor of New York.