Steyer casts doubt on making second Democratic debate

Liberal activist and presidential hopeful Tom Steyer on Thursday suggested he likely will not be on the stage for the second round of Democratic presidential debates in July, saying that he thinks he entered the race too late to qualify.

“I don’t think I can make July because I’m just too late,” Steyer told “CBS This Morning” in his first national television interview since launching his presidential bid on Tuesday. 

{mosads}”But I’m going to take it very seriously, getting onto the debate stage in September,” he added. 

In order to qualify for the July 30-31 debates on CNN, candidates must either average more than 1 percent support in three qualified polls or have 65,000 unique donors to their respective campaigns.

For the fundraising qualification, the candidates must have at least 200 different donors per state in a minimum of 20 states. 

Candidates will not find out if they qualify until July 17. 

Steyer, who has frequently called for President Trump’s impeachment in his “Need to Impeach” campaign, has extensive experience funding and leading Democratic campaigns and political projects. 

He said in his campaign announcement that his presidency will be centered “on solving two major crises – reforming our broken political system and saving our planet from the ravages of climate change.”

“I’m going to continue to fund that, but I believe we have won that argument,” Steyer told CBS. “This is a continuation, as far as I’m concerned, of the grass-roots efforts that I have led for the last ten years. 

“This is about retaking the democracy from the corrupt, corporate power that is determining what happens in Washington, D.C.,” he added.