White House hopeful Andrew Yang said in an interview aired Thursday that he will not run as a third-party candidate if denied the Democratic presidential nomination.

“My job is to help get Donald Trump out of office, and I would do nothing that would increase the odds of him sticking around,” Mr. Yang said on CBS. “And I think a third-party candidacy would do just that.”

Mr. Yang, a 44-year-old tech entrepreneur, is the only candidate among 10 participating in a Democratic primary debate next week without a background in politics.

Recent polling has placed him above several Democratic candidates with established political careers, however, raising the possibility of Mr. Yang potentially mounting a third-party campaign to compete in 2020 against President Trump.

Three percent of registered Democratic voters surveyed recently named Mr. Yang as their preferred candidate, according to the results of a Quinnipiac University poll released last week.

The same polling placed Mr. Yang behind several fellow Democratic hopefuls — former Vice President Joseph R. Biden; Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; Sen. Bernard Sanders, Vermont independent; Sen. Kamala Harris of California; and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg — but in front of four others scheduled to participate in next week’s debate: Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Hawaii Democrat who failed to qualify in the upcoming debate, said last week that she would not run as a third-party candidate if denied the party’s nomination.

“I’ve ruled that out,” Ms. Gabbard said on CNN. “I’m going to continue to focus on moving our campaign forward, continuing this grassroots campaign, continuing to deliver our message to the American people.”

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