Andrew Yang & Bernie Sanders Won’t Participate in CNN LGBTQ Town Hall
CNN on Wednesday announced details of its upcoming town hall event in Los Angeles, which will take place next month and feature nine of the Democratic Party’s candidates running for president, but the cable news network announced that both Bernie Sanders and Andrew Yang declined invitations to participate in the LGBTQ town hall.
Both candidates reported that they had scheduling conflicts that prevented them from participating in the October event, per CNN. The CNN article about the town hall did not go into the specifics of either Sanders’ of Yang’s scheduling conflict.
The CNN report stated that candidates Tom Steyer, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, former Vice President Joe Biden, California Sen. Kamala Harris, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro will all participate in the CNN event.
The candidates will be interviewed in 30-minute segments by CNN anchors Dana Bash, Anderson Cooper, Chris Cuomo, and Don Lemon at the event, which will begin airing at 7 p.m. and will last until 11 p.m. Audience members will also get a chance to ask the candidates questions.
CNN said it would extend invitations to other candidates who met DNC requirements for candidacy by September 25. According to CNN, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) determines eligibility based on whether candidates poll higher than two percent in four national polls chosen by the committee. Candidates must also have more than 130,000 individual donors with 400 of those donations coming from at least 20 states.
The CNN Town Hall on LGBTQ issues will take place on October 10 and is being sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). According to CNN, HRC said it planned the event for October 10 as the 31st anniversary of National Coming Out Day will be the following day, on October 11. The event is being dubbed “Power of Pride” by HRC.
Looking amazing Philadelphia #YangGang!! Let’s show the country the future. ???? pic.twitter.com/nR83HE8jiu
— Andrew Yang????? (@AndrewYang) September 18, 2019
According to polling data from RealClearPolitics, in a polling average from September 5 to 17, the front-runner is former Vice President Joe Biden with 27.9 points. Sanders is in third place behind Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren with 16.1 points. Yang polls in sixth place with 3.3 points behind Biden, Sanders, Warren, Harris, and Buttigieg.
According to a Tuesday report from The Inquisitr, however, Yang continues to rise in national popularity following his performance in recent debates. Per that report, a new California Emerson poll found that Yang was in fourth place, behind Biden, Sanders, and Warren. Yang was also seen faring the second-best of all Democratic candidates running in a would-be face-off with current Republican President Donald Trump.
