Bullock qualifies for second Democratic debate

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock’s campaign said on Tuesday that he has qualified for the second round of Democratic presidential debates in July after notching 1 percent in a CBS News–YouGov poll released over the weekend.

“As the only candidate who has won a Trump state, we are excited that Governor Steve Bullock’s important voice will be on the stage for the second debate,” Bullock’s campaign manager, Jennifer Ridder, said in a statement.

{mosads}In order to qualify for the first round of debates, candidates had to either amass support from 65,000 unique donors or score at least 1 percent in three polls. The deadline to meet those thresholds for the first debates passed last week.

Bullock ultimately failed to make the stage for the first debates this month after securing 1 percent in only two qualifying polls. He was initially thought to have qualified for that debate until the Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced that it would exclude a Washington Post–ABC News poll in January that showed him with 1 percent support.

Ridder accused the DNC at the time of a “secret rule change,” though the committee said that it had notified Bullock in March that the poll would not count.

The first debate will be held June 26 and 27 in Miami, Fla.

With the release of a CBS News–YouGov survey of Iowa Democrats on Sunday, however, Bullock met the minimum polling criteria to qualify for the second debates. Politico first reported on Tuesday that Bullock had qualified for the July debates.

A DNC spokesperson confirmed to The Hill that the recent CBS News–YouGov surveys will count towards the polling threshold for the debates.

Still, Bullock is not guaranteed a spot on the debate stage in July. The DNC has said that no more than 20 candidates will be allowed to debate, and Bullock is now the 21st contender to qualify.

Candidates that meet both the polling and fundraising thresholds will be given priority. After that, the debate lineup will be chosen using a series of tiebreakers, including which candidates have the highest polling average.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Bullock claimed that he had met the polling threshold to participate in the second debate, but urged supporters to “help us make sure we’re on that stage,” directing them to an online fundraising portal.

IT’S OFFICIAL: We just qualified for the July debate!

Help us make sure we’re on that stage: https://t.co/RuYpH5RD7t pic.twitter.com/lTt3yPE4ZW

— Steve Bullock (@GovernorBullock) June 18, 2019

After the second debates, the requirements for making the debate stage in September are considerably tougher. Candidates will have to collect contributions from at least 130,000 unique donors and notch at least 2 percent in three polls.

Updated at 11:07 a.m.