Before the Texas Gubernatorial Debate, the Libertarian party candidate for governor spoke to the media about not being allowed to participate in Friday night’s debate, hosted by our parent company Nexstar Media Group.

In a statement last week, Nexstar released the criteria which the company said Tippetts does not meet for inclusion in the debate.

While Tippetts called the criteria for inclusion vague, Nexstar’s debate criteria states that the candidate must be polling at 10-percent in a general election, and that the campaign must have raised at least $50,000 in campaign contributions with 25% of those coming from in state contributions.

Prior to the debate Nexstar’s Chris Berg says Tippets was polling below 5-percent and his fundraising efforts in state reflected only $14,500. It was for those reasons Berg says Tippets was not included.

Tippetts, who is an international legal and business consultant, said his absence Friday night is a loss for Texas voters.