The Number Of Democratic Candidates Rises To 18

 The field of candidates wanting the Democratic nomination for president in 2020 keeps growing. Yesterday, two more candidates entered the race -- Governor Michael Bennet of Colorado and Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio. That raises the number of official candidates to 18 (and that's without Joe Biden, who is expected to enter the race soon).

Announcing his candidacy, Bennet said:

“I didn’t think the case that I made in (my) book was being articulated by anyone in the field. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think I had a chance to win. I think, like everyone else does, it’s a long shot. But I think everyone in the field is a longshot.”

Ryan joined the race saying:

"I’m running for president because we have a real shot at uniting again — to restore the dignity of work and the feasibility of the American Dream. We have a chance to once again unite this country under our core principles and ideals."

"We can restore the dignity of a secure retirement and respect for those who shower after work. We can lift our children to reach higher, to seek academic and vocational excellence. We can climb out of our vicious cycle of insidious debt and reach higher, competing together in a global market — not against one another here at home."

Here are the 18 current Democratic candidates (in no particular order):

* Kamala Harris

* Elizabeth Warren

* Beto O'Rourke

* Julian Castro

* Pete Buttigieg

* Amy Klobuchar

* Jay Inslee

* John Hickenlooper

* Cory Booker

* Michael Bennet

* John Delaney

* Andrew Yang

* Tim Ryan

* Kirsten Gillibrand

* Marianne Williamson

* Tulsi Gabbard

* Wayne Messam

* Bernie Sanders

The first Democratic debate will be in June. To qualify to participate in the debate, a candidate must show at least 1% support in three DNC-approved polls, or show they have at least 65,000 individual donors to their campaign. 

We have to wait and see who will qualify, but I expect most of them will. Those aren't very stringent standards.