Elections

Third Party Candidates Are Officially Out Of The First Debate

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Alex Pfeiffer White House Correspondent
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Libertarian Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s Jill Stein did not meet the polling threshold and will not be in the first presidential debate Sept. 26, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced Friday.

Candidates needed to meet an average of 15 percent nationally in five select polling organizations. “[T]he Board determined that the polling averages called for in the third criterion are as follows: Hillary Clinton (43%), Donald Trump (40.4%), Gary Johnson (8.4%) and Jill Stein (3.2%). Accordingly, Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, and Donald Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence, qualify to participate in the September 26 presidential debate and the October 4 vice-presidential debate, respectively,” the commission said in a statement.

Johnson had previously said that not making the debate would be “game over” for his chances of winning the election.