The first 2020 hopeful to speak at the Democratic National Committee’s candidate forum Friday blasted the Democratic National Committee’s rules that will likely exclude half the candidates from the next debate.

“The DNC process is stifling debate at a time when we need it most,” said Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet to the DNC summer meeting audience in San Francisco.

Bennet said the debate rules reward “celebrity candidates” with millions of Twitter followers, billionaires who “buy their way onto the debate stage” and candidates who have been running for president for years.

The DNC rules also force campaigns to fork over “millions of dollars to Facebook, the same platform that let the Russians interfere in 2016,” Bennet said.

With DNC chairman Tom Perez – who has sought to design a fair and inclusive process – on stage, Bennet took one final jab.

“If we wanted to be the party that excluded people, we’d be Republicans,” Bennet concluded to mixed reaction from the audience.

Bennet joins a growing number of 2020 hopefuls who haven’t qualified for the Sept. 12-13 debates in Houston. DNC raised the standards for the third debate to 2% in at least four qualifying polls and 130,000 unique donors.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who is on the cusp of making the debate, called on the DNC Friday to revise its list of qualifying polls. Her campaign said she exceeded the 2% threshold in 26 national and early state polls, but only two of them are on the DNC’s certified list.

And Montana Gov. Steve Bullock has slammed the DNC’s rules after learning late-entrant billionaire Tom Steyer was on the cusp of qualifying for the debate, whereas other candidates have been grinding away on the campaign trail for months.

“I think the DNC rules were well intentioned, but what it really has done is allowed a billionaire to buy a spot on the debate stage,” Bullock said last week. “Tom Steyer just spent $10 million to get 130,000 (donors) – we’re getting to the point where as we’re spending money online as opposed to actually talking to voters.”

The DNC says the rules are more generous than past cycles because of an expanded list of approved polls and longer polling windows.

“The debate rules have been public for months, and candidates have been given more opportunities and more time to qualify for debates than in previous cycles,” said DNC spokeswoman Adrienne Watson.

So far 10 candidates have qualified for the third debate: Former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, California Sen. Kamala Harris, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, businessman Andrew Yang and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro.

Wednesday is the cutoff for candidates to qualify. Gabbard, Steyer and Gillibrand are on the cusp.

The tough rules have prompted several candidates to drop out. Rep. Seth Moulton was the latest candidate to call it quits on Friday, with former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee dropping out earlier.

Bennet also slammed the rules to qualify for CNN’s climate town hall Sept. 4 – which was 2% polling in at least four DNC approved polls.

“Jay Inslee dropped out this week not just because he didn’t qualify for the third debate – but because he didn’t qualify for the climate change town hall,” Bennet said. “Think about that for a moment: The climate change candidate didn’t qualify for the climate change town hall!”

Bennet said he won’t make the debate but will still be campaigning and connecting with voters in early states.