Gabbard meets criteria to participate in next Democratic presidential debate

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) — Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has met the qualifying criteria for the next Democratic presidential debate and is poised to join nine other candidates on stage later this month.

Gabbard, D-Hawaii, qualified after polling at 3% in a four national polls and getting support from at least 165,000 unique donors.

The debate is set for Nov. 20 in Atlanta, and is co-hosted by MSNBC and the Washington Post.

The news comes as Gabbard continues to push back against claims she’s planning to run as a third party candidate.

Gabbard said on ABC’s “The View” on Wednesday that she’s “running to build a new Democratic Party.” She added that she’s said “no every time” she’s been asked if she would launch a third-party bid.

Also on “The View,” the Democratic presidential candidate confronted host Joy Behar, who called Gabbard a “useful idiot” last month when discussing her feud with Hillary Clinton.

Gabbard accused Behar of doubling down on what she called “baseless accusations” of her being a Russian asset.

Copyright 2019 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.