User:Metropolitan90/RFC for presidential candidates

Request for comments on which presidential candidates should be considered "major"
In past election campaigns, there has been a lot of discussion as to which candidates should be considered major presidential candidates.

I would like to try to get a consensus now before any candidates for 2024 have declared, so that we can establish criteria without people trying to use the criteria to get a particular candidate included or excluded.

Note that these criteria are intended only for Democratic and Republican candidates. They aren't likely to be relevant to candidates of other parties.

Here are my proposed criteria:
 * 1) The candidate has been included as a choice in at least five independent, national polls for their party's nomination since the last presidential election; or
 * 2) The candidate holds, or has previously held, at least one of the following offices:
 * 3) President of the United States;
 * 4) Vice President of the United States;
 * 5) United States Senator;
 * 6) United States Representative;
 * 7) United States Cabinet member -- specifically, head of one of the United States federal executive departments;
 * 8) Governor of a state; or
 * 9) Mayor of one of the 10 most populous cities in the U.S.

Note that this would not give an automatic pass to state legislators, or to mayors of smaller cities. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 23:58, 11 October 2020 (UTC)

How would the 2016 candidates have fared by these standards?

 * Michael Bennet: Senator.
 * Joe Biden: 5th qualifying poll completed Jan. 11, 2018. VP and Senator. Announced campaign Apr. 25, 2019.
 * Michael Bloomberg: 5th qualifying poll completed Nov. 28, 2018. Mayor. Announced campaign Nov. 24, 2019.
 * Cory Booker: Senator.
 * Steve Bullock: Governor.
 * Pete Buttigieg: 5th qualifying poll completed Feb. 10, 2019. No qualifying office. Announced campaign Apr. 14, 2019.
 * Julián Castro: Cabinet member and Mayor.
 * Bill de Blasio: Mayor.
 * John Delaney: Representative.
 * Tulsi Gabbard: 5th qualifying poll completed Jan. 27, 2019. Representative. Announced campaign Jan. 11, 2019.
 * Kirsten Gillibrand: Senator and Representative.
 * Mike Gravel: Senator.
 * Kamala Harris: Senator.
 * John Hickenlooper: Governor.
 * Jay Inslee: Governor and Representative.
 * Amy Klobuchar: 5th qualifying poll completed Jan. 15, 2018. Senator. Announced campaign Feb. 10, 2019.
 * Wayne Messam: No qualifying office.
 * Seth Moulton: Representative.
 * Richard Ojeda: No qualifying office.
 * Beto O'Rourke: Representative.
 * Deval Patrick: Governor.
 * Tim Ryan: Representative.
 * Bernie Sanders: 5th qualifying poll completed Jan. 11, 2018. Senator and Representative. Announced campaign Feb. 19, 2019.
 * Joe Sestak: Representative.
 * Tom Steyer: 5th qualifying poll completed July 13, 2019. No qualifying office. Announced campaign July 9, 2019.
 * Eric Swalwell: Representative.
 * Elizabeth Warren: 5th qualifying poll completed Jan. 11, 2018. Senator. Announced campaign Feb. 9, 2019.
 * Marianne Williamson: No qualifying office.
 * Andrew Yang: No qualifying office.