Yang qualifies for December Democratic debate

Andrew Yang has qualified for the December Democratic presidential debate after notching 4 percent in a new national poll released on Tuesday.

Yang is the seventh candidate to qualify for the debate, which is slated to take place in Los Angeles on Dec. 19. The six other candidates who have already secured their spots on stage are former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) had qualified for the debate. But she ended her campaign last week amid waning electoral prospects, consequently forfeiting her place on the debate stage.

To make the December debate, candidates have to amass the support of at least 200,000 unique donors and register the support of at least 4 percent of respondents in four Democratic National Committee-approved polls or 6 percent in two approved early-state polls.

Candidates have until the end of Thursday to qualify.

Yang crossed the donor threshold months ago. A survey from Quinnipiac University Poll released on Tuesday gave him his fourth qualifying survey and, as a result, a spot on the December debate stage.

Yang entered the Democratic nominating contest more than two years ago as mostly an unknown, pitching a form of universal basic income dubbed the “Freedom Dividend,” a $1,000-per-month payment to every U.S. adult.

Yang has continued to gain a following since launching his campaign.

He’s earned the right to appear at every primary debate so far and has outraised some of his more well-known rivals. In the third fundraising quarter of 2019, Yang brought in $9.9 million, outpacing high-profile candidates like Klobuchar and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.).

–Updated at 3:49 p.m.