Campaign

Inslee hits 65,000 donor threshold for primary debate

by Reid Wilson - 05/24/19 3:06 PM ET

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) has received donations from more than 65,000 people, qualifying him for a coveted spot on a crowded stage in the first Democratic presidential debates, to be held next month.

Inslee’s campaign received its 65,000th donation on Friday, campaign spokesman Jared Leopold said. The campaign saw a 40 percent spike in donations in the last three weeks after Inslee rolled out a series of policy initiatives aimed at climate change.

{mosads}Inslee had already met the other requirement that would have put him on the debate stage by scoring 1 percent support in three separate public opinion polls.

Meeting the donor threshold will score him one of 20 spots reserved for Democratic candidates across two nights in Miami.

Anticipating a large primary field, and hoping to avoid the “kid’s table” debate that set some lower-tier Republican candidates grumbling in 2016, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) last year laid out guidelines for candidates hoping to make the debate stage. The DNC capped the number of candidates who could qualify at 20, and those who did not reach both polling and donor thresholds would be the first to be excluded.

Inslee is the 13th Democratic candidate to have qualified through both their standing in the polls and the number of donations they have received.

Tags 2020 campaign Democratic primary Democratic primary debates Jay Inslee