Kamala Harris qualifies for December primary debate

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) has qualified for the December Democratic presidential primary debate hosted by POLITICO and PBS News. She is the fifth candidate to do so.

She joins Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg as candidates who have made the stage for the December debate. The qualification call is based on POLITICO’s analysis of the publicly released polling and donor numbers, and no candidate’s qualification is official until the Democratic National Committee certifies it after the qualification deadline on Dec. 12.

To qualify for the Dec. 19 debate, candidates need to hit 4 percent in four DNC-approved polls — or 6 percent in two DNC-approved early state polls — and receive donations from 200,000 unique contributors.

Harris hit 4 percent in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal national poll released Sunday morning, one of the three national polls released exactly a year out from Election Day 2020. It was her fourth qualifying poll, and her campaign has said she has over 200,000 donors. Fox News and The Washington Post/ABC News also released national polls on Sunday.

Harris’ qualification for the December debate comes during a trying time for her campaign.

Over the past week, Harris has significantly reconfigured her campaign, laying off and reassigning staff and largely abandoning her efforts in New Hampshire as she goes all-in on Iowa.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) also got closer to qualifying for the December debate. She hit 5 percent in the NBC/WSJ poll, her third qualifying poll for the POLITICO/PBS debate. Klobuchar’s campaign has said she has already crossed the donor threshold.

Candidates can also still qualify for the November debate, which is set to be hosted by MSNBC and The Washington Post on Nov. 20 in Atlanta.

Nine candidates — Biden, Cory Booker, Buttigieg, Harris, Klobuchar, Sanders, Tom Steyer, Warren and Andrew Yang — have qualified for the November debate. Qualification closes Nov. 13, and no other candidate got closer toward qualifying for either debate from any of the three national polls released on Sunday.

Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is one poll away from qualifying for the November debate, but candidates need 3 percent in approved polls to qualify. Gabbard hit 2 percent in all three of the national polls released on Sunday.

Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine