AP Photo Wasserman Schultz: 'We’re going to have six debates. Period'

Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz dug in Thursday and said her party would stick to the six currently scheduled Democratic primary debates, one day after two vice chairs from within her organization broke ranks and called such a strict limit a “mistake.”

“We’re going to have six debates,” Wasserman Schultz told reporters flatly at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast. “Period.”


Wasserman Schultz has come under fire for the limited schedule, with Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley leading the charge. O’Malley has said the limits are “rigged” and “ridiculous,” and devoted much of his speech to the DNC last month in Minneapolis to ripping the rules.

But the statement late Wednesday from two DNC vice chairs, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and R.T. Rybak, was notable because it came from within the party’s own power structure. “By limiting Democratic debates to just six, more people will feel excluded from our political process, rather than included,” Gabbard and Rybak wrote in a post on Facebook.

Wasserman Schultz said Thursday the “beauty of our party” is that it embraces divergent opinions, but that her decision on debates would stand.

“This was a decision that I reached that, absolutely, I consulted and communicated with many people, including our officers, and decided that this was the best way to approach it,” she said.

“I will make decisions that will make some people happy, some people not happy,” she added.

Wasserman Schultz noted that the Republican Party has limited its debate schedule, as well, with nine debates currently scheduled for its 17 candidates. “That’s proportional to our five candidates and their six debates,” she said of the Democrats’ schedule.

The party rules say that the DNC will hold six sanctioned presidential primary debates and that any presidential candidate who participates in a non-sanctioned debate will be disinvited from future official ones. Wasserman Schultz said the limits are necessary to make “sure that we not let the debate process get out of control,” and that preparing for debates is “labor intensive” for candidates. She said the party encouraged groups to organize forums and other non-debate events for the Democratic field.

In addition to O’Malley, Sen. Bernie Sanders has called for more debates and last week Hillary Clinton said she was open to more debates, as well.

But O’Malley has been the most outspoken about the timing and number of face-offs. “I mean what's next? That you can only view the Democratic debates if you subscribe to Netflix?” O’Malley said on MSNBC earlier this week.

Wasserman Schultz dismissed O’Malley’s accusation of rigging. “Every day someone is going to say something about my intentions,” she said. “Like I said, I have a party to run.”