Tom Steyer’s debate problem: campaign calls for expansion of criteria

LOS ANGELES, CA.-JULY 29, 2014: President of NextGen Climate Tom Steyer visits LAC and USC Medical Center in Los Angeles on July 29, 2014. The founder of Farallon Capitol hedge fund, which he sold, Steyer is now deeply involved environmental issues. (Photo by Anne Cusack/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Tom Steyer has a problem, he can’t seem to get into the debates.

Now, his campaign is calling for the expansion of DNC polling criteria required to earn debate spot.

Heather Hargreaves, Steyer’s campaign manager, issued the following statement:

“The polling is clear. In just over six weeks, Tom’s message of breaking the corporate stranglehold in Washington is resonating in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada. The American people deserve to hear this message in September but are being denied by the lack of recent qualifying polls. 

“Today, we are calling on the DNC to expand their polling criteria to include more qualifying polling, including at least one poll in Nevada before the deadline next week. As a party, we want to ensure the will of the voters is respected.”

It’s true that in the weeks since Steyer announced his bid for president, he’s gained some steam in the polls. 

Pledging $100M into his campaign, he’s gone from a relatively unknown candidate to polling above Andrew Yang and Beto O’Rourke in some states.

The problem for the Steyer campaign is those polls aren’t sanctioned by the DNC. The DNC polling requirement states candidates have to poll at “2 percent support or more in four national or early-state polls” but only certain DNC sanctioned polls qualify, according to Ballotpedia. 

It’s a benchmark the former hedge-fund executive turned activist has been unable to hit, despite throwing large amounts of money into his campaign, focusing on early primary states and polling at seven to eight percent in some non-sanctioned polls. 

Steyer’s campaign thinks it’s unfair to the candidate, whose message is clearly resonating with voters in the states he’s been strategically pursuing like Iowa and Nevada.

According to a news release from the Steyer campaign:

“In just the last week alone, Steyer has surpassed the required two percent threshold in multiple polls in early primary states. Steyer has polled at seven percent in Morning Consult’s early states poll and six percent in Gravis’ Nevada poll, but [neither poll is] DNC-sanctioned despite coming from credible polling organizations with long track records.”

Clearly, Hargreaves and the rest of the people behind Steyer’s campaign understand the importance of earning a debate seat, but it remains to be seen if Steyer will be on the DNC debate stage in September.