Tom Steyer appears to qualify for October Democratic debate

Image: Tom Steyer listens during a town hall event in Ankeny, Iowa, on Jan.
Tom Steyer listens during a town hall event in Ankeny, Iowa, on Jan. 9, 2019. Copyright Daniel Acker Bloomberg via Getty Images file
Copyright Daniel Acker Bloomberg via Getty Images file
By Allan Smith with NBC News Politics
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Steyer received 2 percent in a CBS News/YouGov's Sunday battleground poll of Nevada voters.

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Billionaire activist Tom Steyer on Sunday appeared to be the 11th candidate to qualify for the October Democratic presidential debate, his campaign announced.

Steyer received 2 percent support — the Democratic National Committee's threshold for poll qualification — in a new CBS News/YouGov poll surveying Nevada, giving him the required four polls at 2 percent or higher he needed to qualify. Steyer had reached the needed 130,000 unique donations needed for debate qualification last month.

The polling did not come in time for Steyer to reach the stage in this week's debate, set for Houston.

"It's now more clear than ever that Tom's message is resonating with Americans across the country — that it is time to break the corporate stranglehold on Washington and bring democracy back to the American people," Campaign Manager Heather Hargreaves said in an email. "We are thrilled that Tom will be able to share his vision — of how together we can fix our broken political system — with the American public."

The October debate will take place on Oct. 15 and 16 in Ohio. With 11 candidates having now qualified, the debate is almost certain to be split over two days. Among those on the outside looking in, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, is within striking distance of qualification.

Ten candidates will participate in this week's debate: Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Julián Castro, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O'Rourke, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Andrew Yang. Those candidates are all locks to be in October's debate unless they were to end their campaign.

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