More Billionaires Than Blacks Running For Prez, Cory Booker Warns

NEWARK, NJ — Now that Sen. Kamala Harris of California has ended her 2020 presidential campaign, a troubling trend is shaping up among the remaining Democratic candidates, according to Sen. Cory Booker, her counterpart from New Jersey.

Namely, more billionaires than black people are running for president, he says.

With Harris out, the remaining Democratic frontrunners include former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and billionaires Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg.

The other leading candidates of color – including Booker, former housing secretary Julían Castro, businessman Andrew Yang and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii – have yet to meet both requirements set by the Democratic National Committee to participate in the December debate, Fox News reported.

Those requirements include having at least 200,000 unique donors and reaching 4 percent in four DNC-approved polls or 6 percent in two DNC-approved early state polls.

As a result, the Democratic Party may have an all-white candidate dais for its next debate in December.

Harris has said that her dwindling war chest was a major reason behind her decision to drop out of the race.

“I'm not a billionaire,” she told CNN. “I can't fund my own campaign. And as the campaign has gone on, it's become harder and harder to raise the money we need to compete.”

Although interest in the debates has reportedly been flagging - the last debate attracted only 6.5 million viewers, The Atlantic reported - many African American and Latino leaders are criticizing the lack of diversity on the presidential debate dais in 2020.

Those critics include Booker, the former mayor of Newark, who serves with Harris on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

• See related article: US Senate Committee Had 1 Black Member In 200 Years (Until Now)

“I'm just going to say it plain,” Booker said Thursday. “It is a problem that we now have an overall campaign for the 2020 presidency that has more billionaires in it than black people.”

“But I'll tell you this: Voters will determine the outcome of this campaign, and black women voters in particular will have a very large impact on our ability to win,” Booker said.

According to Booker’s campaign team, they raised more than $1 million on the night of last month’s debate and the four days that followed, some of their highest-grossing efforts so far.

Booker’s team wrote:

“This grassroots influx is particularly notable because it has been defined by an outpouring of new support. We added more first-time donors in the 24 hours after the debate than the day Cory launched his campaign. In fact, the Cory 2020 donors who became first-time donors in the three days between November 20 and 22 represent nearly 10 percent of our total universe of donors. This wave of new donor interest pushed Cory 2020 over the 200,000-donor threshold needed to qualify for the December debate.”

According to Booker’s team, the senator is now setting his sights on hitting 4 percent in the polls leading to the Dec. 12 deadline, his most likely route to the debate.

He hadn’t placed in any qualifying polls as of Wednesday, Fox News stated.

• See related article: Weary Democratic Voters Balk At New Presidential Candidates
• See related article: Warren Challenges Biden For Votes From Black Women
• See related article: The First Big Turning Point in Campaign 2020

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