Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has qualified for the October Democratic presidential primary debate, making her the twelfth candidate to hit the Democratic National Committee's thresholds.

Gabbard got 2 percent support in a New Hampshire poll conducted by Monmouth University and released on Tuesday. The Hawaii congresswoman had previously gotten 2 percent in three other DNC-approved polls, and her campaign said she already racked up more than the 130,000 donors she needed to make the debate stage.


Gabbard will join Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O'Rourke, Tom Steyer, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Andrew Yang onstage in October.

Neither Steyer nor Gabbard participated in the September debate, with both needing more time to hit the polling threshold. It's not yet clear if their inclusion will force two nights of debates in October. Previously, the DNC and its media partners have wanted to avoid putting more than 10 people onstage at a time.

Spokespersons for the DNC and its media partners for the October debate, The New York Times and CNN, did not immediately respond to questions from POLITICO about whether there will be two nights of debates. The next debate is scheduled for Oct. 15 — with a second night on Oct. 16 if necessary .

No other candidate appears likely to join the 12 who have qualified for the October debate. Marianne Williamson is the only other Democratic presidential hopeful who has announced passing the donor threshold, but she has only hit 2 percent once in a DNC-approved poll. Qualification for the October debate closes Oct. 1.


The new polls out Tuesday also helped several high-polling candidates secure early spots for the November primary debate, which has slightly stricter criteria to make it on stage. To qualify for November, candidates need to pass a modified polling threshold: either 3 percent in four DNC-approved polls or 5 percent in two approved polls of early-state voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina. Campaigns also need to accrue 165,000 donors, with 600 donors in 20 different states, territories or Washington D.C.

A Suffolk University/USA Today Network poll in Nevada released earlier Tuesday qualified Biden, Buttigieg, Harris, Sanders and Warren for the November debate, a day after the qualification rules were officially announced. All five received at least 3 percent in the Nevada poll, and each campaign has previously said it has well over the 165,000 donor mark.

In the Nevada poll, Biden leads the field with 23 percent, followed by Warren’s 19 percent. Sanders is at 14 percent, the last candidate in double-digits.

Yang and Steyer each scored 3 percent in the Nevada poll as well. This is Yang’s second poll toward qualifying for November debate and Steyer’s first.


Qualification for the November debate closes seven days before the debate takes place. The date, timing and location of the November debate has not yet been announced.

The Suffolk University/USA Today Network Nevada poll surveyed 500 likely Democratic caucus-goers from Sept. 19-23 and has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points. The Monmouth University New Hampshire poll surveyed 401 likely Democratic primary voters from Sept. 17-21, with a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.

Michael Calderone contributed to this report.