Rep. Tim Ryan on Tuesday said he plans to press on with his campaign for the White House even if he doesn’t qualify for the next Democratic presidential debate, saying his campaign has “momentum.”

“Yeah, of course,” the Ohio Democrat said on CNN’s “New Day.” “We have momentum — I think this is a momentum game, and to say you need 135,000 low-dollar donors where most people are spending $50-$70 to get a $1 contribution to get yourself going I think is inconsistent with where we should be as Democrats.”

“But again, people are calling, people are supporting us,” he said. “People [are] saying hey, guy from Ohio who’s going after Trump, he’s leading on guns, he’s leading on the economy — let’s take a look at this guy.”

Mr. Ryan said he had his best fundraising day of the campaign the day after last month’s debate.

To qualify for the next debate in September, candidates have to secure donations from at least 130,000 individual donors and hit 2% support in at least four qualifying polls.

Nine candidates appear to have qualified so far: former Vice President Joseph R. Biden; Sen. Cory A. Booker of New Jersey; Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana; Sen. Kamala D. Harris of California; Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas; Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont; Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; and businessman Andrew Yang.

Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.