The Democrats might be destroying their chance in the 2020 general election.  The party currently has too large a pool of candidates that is effectively dividing their votes.

It’s becoming clear that they will  need to consolidate their support in order to avoid another loss to current President Donald J. Trump, which begs the question; should these candidates still be running?

There still remain nineteen candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, depite seven having dropped out. Those still running, and who have qualified for the October Democratic debate, include:  

 Vice President Joe Biden, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, California Sen. Kamala Harris, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke, and entrepeneur Andrew Yang.  The two candidates who had not been included in the previous debate are Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and billionaire businessman Tom Steyer.

Candidates not qualifying for the debate but who have not officially withdrawn their names as candidates include Michael Bennett, Steve Bullock,  John Delaney, Wayne Messam, Tim Ryan, Marainne Williamson, and Joe Sestak. 

The fact of the matter is that the party must eventually pour all of their resources and support into one strong candidate like former Vice President Joe Biden or Sen. Elizabeth Warren who have been leading in the polls all along. If this can be effectively done, more Democratic votes will likely go to these two candidates. What would be even better though, is if all of the others dropped out, and sent their voters to one of these superior candidates.

Most recent polls have shown that Biden and Warren certainly have the most promise in this election, with their competitors all falling short to their high numbers. Though many of these candidates should drop out, that is unlikely to happen unless there is no other option for them. However, if the current impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump does indeed go further, senators will be called to hear the case, therefore being pulled away from their campaigns, which may actually be a benefit to the Democratic Party. This would pull six senators away from their campaigns, and though this would include current polling leader Elizabeth Warren, it would have the possibility of allowing Biden’s campaign to grow even stronger.

Though none of these possibilities are certain, they remain viable routes that have the potential to give rise to a strong Democratic showing, and a return to the White House for Democrats.  And though other candidates on this list are meeting financial requirements and poll numbers for the upcoming debates, it simply is unwise to continue a campaign for someone that will not receive enough votes to win, yet take away enough for the Democratic Party to lose.