Mayor Bill de Blasio suggested Wednesday that he clinched a spot in the first Democratic presidential debate later this month.
The message from the Democratic National Convention (DNC) a few hours later? Not so fast.
Speaking at an unrelated news conference, the mayor said DNC Chair Tom Perez sent him a text message telling de Blasio that he would qualify.
But a few hours later, a DNC spokesperson denied this, saying de Blasio asked about a recent Reuters national poll in the race and Perez was merely confirming that poll would count towards consideration for candidates. The spokesperson said the DNC had not told any candidate if they clinched a debate spot.
NY1 reached out to de Blasio's campaign after the DNC tweet, but staffers had not responded as of this writing.
The DNC is slated to announce Thursday which candidates qualified for the debate. Candidates must meet one of two qualifying criteria:
A candidate must poll at 1 percent or higher in at least three national or early-state polls from qualifying polling organizations.
A candidate must have received donations from at 65,000 unique donors, with at least 200 donors in at least 20 states.
De Blasio said he hit the polling threshold in six polls. Candidates have until 11 a.m. Thursday to submit their materials regarding fundraising and which polls they believe qualify them in order for the DNC to certify if the candidate qualifies for the debate.
The debate, the first for the 2020 presidential race, will be held over two nights in Miami on June 26 and 27. The field will be capped at 20 candidates; around two dozen Democrats are running for president, including New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Gillibrand has met both the polling and fundraising thresholds for the debate.
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