Last week, Democrats held their fourth presidential debate. On the stage were former vice president Joe Biden | Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) | Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) | Sen. Kamala D. Harris (Calif.) | South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg | former congressman Beto O’Rourke of Texas | Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) | businessman Andrew Yang | Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) | former housing and urban development secretary Julián Castro | Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) | businessman and environmentalist Tom Steyer.
A few of these Democrats are now in danger of missing the November presidential debate, due to another tightening of the rules by the Democratic National Committee. Just eight candidates appear to have qualified so far (Biden, Booker, Buttigieg, Harris, Sanders, Warren, Yang, and Steyer). Under the new rules, candidates must register at least 3 percent in four polls approved by the party since Sept. 13, or at least 5 percent in two early state polls. Candidates must also earn donations from at least 165,000 unique donors, with at least 600 coming from 20 individual states. These requirements must be met by the end of Nov. 13.
The debate also came after a recent George Washington University Politics Poll, that had Sen. Warren leading the Democratic field with 28 percent of the vote, Sanders in second at 21 percent, and Biden, the front-runner since his entrance into the race, at 18 percent.
Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.), who was the first House Republican express openness to voting to impeach President Donald Trump, announced his decision to not seek reelection in 2020. The Florida Republican had previously served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican from 2005-2008, and was first elected to Florida’s 19th congressional district in Nov. 2016. Rooney is the 21st GOP lawmaker that has decided to retire, resign or run for higher office.