The number of Democratic presidential candidates remains in flux. Back in July there were two dozen plus contenders. In a fourteen day period – November 14 to December 3 – four individuals withdrew from the race. Two, however, joined the race: former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick on November 14 followed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on November 24. The current cast is down to fifteen.
Note: On January 2, Julián Castro suspended his campaign and Marianne Williamson laid off her entire campaign staff while remaining in the race. The cast of participants thins.
The sixth Democratic debate is scheduled for Thursday, December 19 to be held in Los Angeles. It will be sponsored by PBS NewsHour and POLITICO.
The active Democratic contenders are (in alphabetical order):
Michael Bennet, Senator from Colorado
Joe Biden, former Vice President of the United States
Michael Bloomberg, former Mayor of New York City
Cory Booker, Senator from New Jersey
Pete Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend, Indiana
John Delaney, former Congressman from Maryland
Tulsi Gabbard, Congresswoman from Hawaii
Amy Klobuchar, Senator from Minnesota
Deval Patrick, former Governor of Massachusetts
Bernie Sanders, Senator from Vermont
Tom Steyer, former hedge fund executive
Elizabeth Warren, Senator from Massachusetts
Marianne Williamson, author
Andrew Yang, tech company executive
There are thirteen candidates who have withdrawn or suspended their campaign. They are:
Julián Castro, former U.S. Secretary of Housing & Urban Development, suspended January 2, 2020
Kamala Harris, Senator from California, withdrew December 3, 2019
Steve Bullock, Governor of Montana, withdrew December 2, 2019
Joe Sestak, former Congressman from Pennsylvania, withdrew December 1, 2019
Wayne Messam, Mayor of Miramar, Florida, withdrew November 20, 2019
Beto O’Rourke, former Congressman from Texas, withdrew November 1, 2019
Tim Ryan, Congressman from Ohio; withdrew October 24, 2019
Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City; withdrew September 20, 2019
Kirsten Gillibrand, Senator from New York; withdrew August 28, 2019
Seth Moulton, Congressman from Massachusetts; withdrew August 23, 2019
Jay Inslee, Governor of Washington State; withdrew August 21, 2019
John Hickenlooper, former Governor of Colorado; withdrew August 15, 2019
Eric Swalwell, Congressman from California; withdrew July 8, 2019
POLITICO reports six candidates have already qualified, as of December 3, for the December 19th debate. They are: Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Sanders, Steyer and Warren. Candidates Tulsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang may still qualify as they have already matched the donor threshold requirement. The official list of candidates who will appear on stage in Los Angeles will be announced by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) after the December 12 qualification deadline.
The requirements to participate in the December debate were released in October by the DNC.
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Updated January 3, 2020
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