Steyer Campaign Statement on DNC September Debate

(SAN FRANCISCO, August 28, 2019) — Today, Tom Steyer 2020 Campaign Manager Heather Hargreaves released the following statement on the DNC's September debate:

"In just over seven weeks our campaign has made strong, sustained gains in the early primary states that will be pivotal in selecting our nominee, surging to 5th place in this week's Morning Consult poll. It is clear from public polling that Tom would have easily met the 2% threshold and been on the debate stage if there had been any qualified early state polling in the last few weeks.

"While we believe that voters in these states deserve to see Tom on the debate stage in Houston, we understand the rules established by the DNC and respect the process. We are confident that, over the next month, voters in the early states will be heard and that the rest of the country will get to learn more about Tom's plan to end the corporate corruption of politics and restore our democracy to the American people.

"We do hope that the Democratic National Committee expands their polling criteria in the future to include more early state qualifying polling. In particular, voters in Nevada deserve to have a voice in who will be on the debate stage. A recent Gravis poll had Tom at 6% in the state, but unfortunately there were no qualifying polls during this entire period in Nevada."

In just the last two weeks, Steyer has surpassed the required 2% threshold in multiple polls in early primary states. Steyer has polled at 7% in Morning Consult's early states poll and 6% in Gravis' Nevada poll. He was able to reach the 130,000 donor threshold within five weeks of launching his campaign.