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Today eight Presidential candidates will answer questions one-on-one during the She the People forum in Houston. You can watch the forum live online in the video above.
The candidates who are appearing today are Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Beto O’Rourke, Julian Castro, Amy Klobuchar, and Tulsi Gabbard.
Cory Booker was the first on the schedule to speak today at the forum.
So far six candidates have qualified to be in the DNC debates both through polling and donations. These are Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Beto O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Andrew Yang. Tulsi Gabbard has qualified through donations, but hasn’t yet qualified through polling.
The DNC changed the debate rules this year and is limiting its presidential debates to 20 candidates, Politico reported. In order to qualify for the first debate, candidates must receive donations from 65,000 people in at least 20 states, FiveThirtyEight reported. This includes a minimum of 200 different donors in at least 20 states, NBC News clarified.
Candidates can also qualify by polling with at least 1 percent in three “qualifying” polls. Previously the DNC relied solely on polling, but is changing the rules due to the large number of candidates this time around.
After more than 20 candidates qualify through donors, the DNC will give preference to candidates who meet both polling and fundraising requirements. Then the field will be further limited to those who are polling the highest, followed by those with the most unique donors, NBC noted. The first debate will be in June.