LOS ANGELES — The Democratic National Committee will again increase the qualification standards for its next debate in January, requiring candidates to receive at least 5 percent support in four qualifying polls, or 7 percent in two early-state polls, making it likely that the field of candidates will be winnowed further for the event.

The announcement on Friday from Tom Perez, the D.N.C. chairman, came despite intense public and private lobbying from Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey and his allies to lower the barrier to participate in the party’s debates, a cause that gained momentum after just one person of color, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, qualified for Thursday’s debate in Los Angeles.

Five candidates — former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts — have already met the 5 percent threshold and the donor threshold of at least 225,000 individual donors, meaning they will receive invitations to the next debate, scheduled for Jan. 14 in Des Moines.

(snip)

But two candidates who were on Thursday’s debate stage in Los Angeles — the businessman Tom Steyer and Mr. Yang — will have work to do in order to qualify for January. Mr. Steyer has met the polling mark twice during the window set by the D.N.C.; Mr. Yang has reached 5 percent only once in that period.

(snip)

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/20/us/politics/january-democratic-debate.html