Sen. Amy Klobuchar qualifies for next Democratic debate

Nine candidates have met requirements so far for the Nov. 20 debate in Atlanta.

October 25, 2019 at 3:23AM
In this Oct. 17, 2019, photo, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., smiles during a campaign stop at a coffee shop in Concord, N.H.
In this Oct. 17, 2019, photo, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., smiles during a campaign stop at a coffee shop in Concord, N.H. (Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar has qualified for the fifth Democratic presidential primary debate thanks to a small uptick in national polls.

The Minnesota senator's campaign confirmed Thursday that she has now met the polling and fundraising requirements needed to join the Nov. 20 debate in Georgia.

A new national survey released Thursday by Quinnipiac University showed Klobuchar hitting 3% support. That's the fourth national poll where Klobuchar hit 3%, the baseline set by the Democratic National Committee.

Klobuchar previously reached the DNC's fundraising requirement for the November debate by amassing 165,000 individual donors.

Nine candidates have qualified so far for the MSNBC/Washington Post-sponsored debate in Atlanta. Klobuchar will be joined on stage by Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren and Andrew Yang. The other candidates have until Nov. 13 to qualify.

Klobuchar's campaign has reported a fundraising surge since the last debate on Oct. 15. That meeting of the candidates saw Klobuchar prod more aggressively at Warren, who has been battling Biden of late for frontrunner status.

In the ensuing week, Klobuchar drew favorable coverage from national media outlets that suggested she could be getting a second look from Democratic primary voters given doubts in some corners of the party about race leaders Biden, Warren and Sanders.

Since last week's debate, Klobuchar took campaign swings through New Hampshire and Iowa. She's been in Washington this week for Senate business, but she returns to New Hampshire on Friday for a town hall meeting and Democratic Party dinner in Nashua. On Saturday, she's campaigning in South Carolina.

Staff writer Patrick Condon contributed to this report.

In this Oct. 15, 2019, photo, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., participates in a Democratic presidential primary debate hosted by CNN and The New York Times at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
A new national survey showed Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar hitting the debate’s threshold of 3% support. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

about the writer

Torey Van Oot

Politics and Government

Torey Van Oot reports on Minnesota politics and government for the Star Tribune.

See More

More from Politics

card image

Here are some facts on abortion, health care, immigration and other topics Minnesota’s Democratic governor and Ohio’s Republican senator focused on during the Tuesday night debate.