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11th Democratic candidate qualifies for Oct debate

Washington, Sep 9

US billionaire Tom Steyer has become the 11th Democratic candidate to qualify for the party's October presidential primary debate, his campaign announced.

The campaign said on Sunday that Steyer, also a longtime Democratic donor, made the cut on after a CBS News/YouGov poll found him enjoying 2 per cent support rate among Democratic voters, giving him the fourth poll with 2 per cent support rate, Xinhua news agency reported.

To qualify for the next round of debates slated to take place later this month and in October, a candidate must have four polls with at least 2 per cent support rate and 130,000 individual donors, which Steyer achieved in August.

The accomplishment for Steyer came too late to put him into the third round of debate in September, which will have 10 candidates.

Reacting to Steyer's qualification, his campaign manager Heather Hargreaves in a statement to the media said that "Tom's message is resonating with Americans across the country".

The 62-year-old Steyer announced his presidential campaign in July.

Meanwhile, Tulsi Gabbard, a Hindu Congresswoman from Hawaii, also moved closer to the debate stage with a Washington Post-ABC News poll released on Saturday, bagging her third poll with at least 2 per cent support rate. She has also met the donor threshold.

Both the CBS and Post-ABC poll shows former Vice President Joe Biden and Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren with clear advantages over other candidates.