The Democratic Party has been urged to reform the way it selects its presidential candidates, amid claims it is shutting out people of colour.

This week at the party’s sixth debate in Los Angeles, entrepreneur Andrew Yang was the only person of colour on the stage. Others - including Cory Booker, Julian Castro and Deval Patrick - are still contesting, but did not qualify for the debate stage.

With all the leading candidates being white, and with senator Kamala Harris having dropped out because she was unable to raise enough money to compete, demands have intensified to reform the primary process and allow candidates of colour to compete more fairly.

“The elephant in the room last night during the debate was the fact that virtually all of the candidates of colour have been wiped out by the rules, the restrictions and the norms governing this process, but for Yang,” Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, told Democracy Now.

Ms Clarke, added: “I think that this is a moment that requires us to press pause and have a conversation about money in politics, about racially polarised voting patterns in our country.”

The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Show all 25 1 /25 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Bernie Sanders The Vermont senator has launched a second bid for president after losing out to Hilary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primaries. He is running on a similar platform of democratic socialist reform Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Joe Biden The former vice president recently faced scrutiny for inappropriate touching of women, but was thought to deal with the criticism well and has since maintained a front runner status in national polling EPA The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Elizabeth Warren The Massachusetts senator is a progressive Democrat, and a major supporter of regulating Wall Street Reuters The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Amy Klobuchar Klobuchar is a Minnesota senator who earned praise for her contribution to the Brett Kavanaugh hearings Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Michael Bloomberg Michael Bloomberg, a late addition to the 2020 race, announced his candidacy after months of speculation in November. He has launched a massive ad-buying campaign and issued an apology for the controversial "stop and frisk" programme that adversely impacted minority communities in New York City when he was mayor Getty Images The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Tulsi Gabbard The Hawaii congresswoman announced her candidacy in January, but has faced tough questions on her past comments on LGBT+ rights and her stance on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Pete Buttigieg The centrist Indiana mayor and war veteran would be the first openly LGBT+ president in American history Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Deval Patrick The former Massachusetts governor launched a late 2020 candidacy and received very little reception. With just a few short months until the first voters flock to the polls, the former governor is running as a centrist and believes he can unite the party's various voting blocs AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Beto O'Rourke The former Texas congressman formally launched his bid for the presidency in March. He ran on a progressive platform, stating that the US is driven by "gross differences in opportunity and outcome" AP The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Kamala Harris The former California attorney general was introduced to the national stage during Jeff Sessions’ testimony. She has endorsed Medicare-for-all and proposed a major tax-credit for the middle class AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Bill De Blasio The New York mayor announced his bid on 16 May 2019. He emerged in 2013 as a leading voice in the left wing of his party but struggled to build a national profile and has suffered a number of political setbacks in his time as mayor AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Steve Bullock The Montana governor announced his bid on 14 May. He stated "We need to defeat Donald Trump in 2020 and defeat the corrupt system that lets campaign money drown out the people's voice, so we can finally make good on the promise of a fair shot for everyone." He also highlighted the fact that he won the governor's seat in a red [Republican] state Reuters The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Cory Booker The New Jersey Senator has focused on restoring kindness and civility in American politics throughout his campaign, though he has failed to secure the same level of support and fundraising as several other senators running for the White House in 2020 Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Wayne Messam Mayor of the city of Miramar in the Miami metropolitan area, Wayne Messam said he intended to run on a progressive platform against the "broken" federal government. He favours gun regulations and was a signatory to a letter from some 400 mayors condemning President Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord Vice News The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Kirsten Gillibrand The New York Senator formally announced her presidential bid in January, saying that “healthcare should be a right, not a privilege” Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: John Delaney The Maryland congressman was the first to launch his bid for presidency, making the announcement in 2017 AP The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Andrew Yang The entrepreneur announced his presidential candidacy by pledging that he would introduce a universal basic income of $1,000 a month to every American over the age of 18 Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Julian Castro The former San Antonio mayor announced his candidacy in January and said that his running has a “special meaning” for the Latino community in the US Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Marianne Williamson The author and spiritual adviser has announced her intention to run for president. She had previously run for congress as an independent in 2014 but was unsuccessful Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Eric Swalwell One of the younger candidates, Swalwell has served on multiple committees in the House of Representatives. He intended to make gun control central to his campaign but dropped out after his team said it was clear there was no path to victory Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Seth Moulton A Massachusetts congressman, Moulton is a former US soldier who is best known for trying to stop Nancy Pelosi from becoming speaker of the house. He dropped out of the race after not polling well in key states Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Jay Inslee Inslee has been governor of Washington since 2013. His bid was centred around climate change AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: John Hickenlooper The former governor of Colorado aimed to sell himself as an effective leader who was open to compromise, but failed to make a splash on the national stage Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Tim Ryan Ohio representative Tim Ryan ran on a campaign that hinged on his working class roots, though his messaging did not appear to resonate with voters Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Tom Steyer Democratic presidential hopeful billionaire and philanthropist Tom Steyer is a longtime Democratic donor AFP/Getty

Erika Andiola, chief advocacy officer for the immigration rights group RAICES, said the need to perform well in the first two states to vote, Iowa and New Hampshire, which are predominantly white, was not helpful

“It has a huge impact on how they’re trying to cater to the first states. And most of them spend most of their time in Iowa right now, where there’s — there is a community,” she said.

“There is a Latino community. There is a very small community of people of colour, compared to Nevada and other states. But it makes a difference in the way that they are really talking about the issues.”

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This is not the first time there have been demands to replace Iowa and New Hampshire with somewhere more representative of the nation. Some officials in Texas, which has a large minority population, believe it should be the first to vote.

“What people are going to be looking for in a candidate in a largely white state is going to be different to a place like South Carolina or Nevada,” says Aimee Allison, founder of She the People, a group that works to promote the political power of women of colour, told The Independent last month. “It’s a structural racism question, because Iowa has an outsized voice in trying to winnow the field, and it’s a poor reflection of the multiracial democracy a lot of us are committed to building.”

Both Mr Booker and Mr Castro have criticised the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for its qualification process.

After Ms Harris dropped out, Mr Booker told reporters: “What message is that sending, that we heralded the most diverse field in our history, and now we’re seeing people like her dropping out of this campaign, not because Iowa voters had the voice”

He added: “There’s more billionaires in the race than there are black people.”

Mr Castro said: “Anybody without the resources to self-fund is at a disadvantage. The DNC should evaluate the threshold with regard to number of donations, and also think about how we’re going to ensure that the future of our politics doesn’t just belong to billionaires who can self fund campaigns.”

The DNC has no plans to change its rules. It told Politico: “The DNC has led a fair and transparent process and even told campaigns almost a year ago that the qualification criteria would go up later in the year.”

This week Mr Yang was asked how he felt being the only person of colour taking part in the debate.