U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard announced Wednesday that 65,000 people have donated to her presidential campaign, a milestone that makes her eligible to join the televised Democratic debates in June.
“Thank you for making this happen and making sure that our voices will be heard in the debates,” Gabbard said in a video released by her campaign.
The Democratic National Committee in December announced guidelines for qualifying for a spot on the debate stage.
To qualify, entrants must either show at least 1 percent in three national polls or in the first four primary states — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina — or by achieving donations from 65,000 unique donors, with at least 200 unique donors per state in at least 20 states.
NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo will host the first 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary debates on two consecutive nights, June 26-27, in Miami.
At least 13 other candidates have met the criteria.
“When we first heard about the DNC’s requirement of 65,000 individual donors to make it to the debate stage in June, we had a small list and a bootstrapped team. The fact that we have reached this goal now, hailing from Hawaii and refusing to take any money from PACs, is huge,” Gabbard wrote in an email to her supporters Wednesday.
The Democratic congresswoman representing Hawaii’s 2nd District has recently appeared on a handful of nationally televised programs, including a CNN town hall, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and “The View.”