Andrew Yang has qualified for the December Democratic debate

(Image credit: John Bazemore/AP)

published 10 December 2019

Lucky number seven?

Businessman Andrew Yang will return to the Democratic presidential debate stage next week in Los Angeles after he picked up 4 percent in the latest national qualifying poll from Quinnipiac University on Tuesday, just two days before the cut-off.

He'll join six other candidates who have already qualified, including former Vice President Joe Biden, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, billionaire Tom Steyer, and Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). It's the field's final chance to duke it out in a debate before the primary gets rolling with early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire in February.

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Yang was able to secure a spot despite stricter polling standards that have left most of his competitors out in the cold. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) — who said she won't attend the debate even if she qualifies — for example, have apparently crossed the fundraising threshold, but don't have the polling numbers.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.