--- title: Lawrence Lessig Ends Campaign for Democratic Nomination description: Lessig: “Unless we can time-travel, there is no way I can qualify” for the next debate canonical: https://time.com/4096999/lawrence-lessig-ends-campaign/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-02T20:59:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:56.924Z article:section: Politics og:title: Lawrence Lessig Ends Campaign for Democratic Nomination og:description: "Unless we can time-travel, there is no way I can qualify” for the next debate, he said og:url: https://time.com/4096999/lawrence-lessig-ends-campaign/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta896be94625bbf43/69886f36428a9e503dccfe3b/lawrence-lessig.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5760 og:image:height: 3240 og:image:alt: Democratic Candidates Attend New Hampshire Democratic Party Convention og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lawrence Lessig Ends Campaign for Democratic Nomination twitter:description: "Unless we can time-travel, there is no way I can qualify” for the next debate, he said twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta896be94625bbf43/69886f36428a9e503dccfe3b/lawrence-lessig.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lawrence Lessig Ends Campaign for Democratic Nomination > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=26ed13b4-03d6-4f80-ae7a-5e55e1725e5a&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Nov 2, 2015 8:59 PM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate Lawrence Lessig speaks on stage at the New Hampshire Democratic Party State Convention on Sept. 19, 2015 in Manchester, New Hampshire. Democratic presidential candidate Lawrence Lessig speaks on stage at the New Hampshire Democratic Party State Convention on Sept. 19, 2015 in Manchester, New Hampshire. Scott Eisen—Getty Images  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Nov 2, 2015 8:59 PM UTC Harvard professor and Democratic presidential hopeful Lawrence Lessig says he is ending his campaign after a party rule change made him ineligible to participate in the next Democratic debate. Lessig said the Democratic party now requires debate participants to have 1% support in three polls at least six weeks before the debate—milestones he had yet to reach at the beginning of October. “Unless we can time-travel, there is no way I can qualify,” he said [in a YouTube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4IsqmMqCEo) announcing his decision. “It is now clear the party won’t let me be a candidate, and I can’t ask people to support a campaign that I know can’t even get before the members of the Democratic party.” Lessig’s campaign was unusual. Were he elected, he planned to resign from the presidency after passing what he calls the Citizens Equality Act, a bill focused on reforming Congress through new campaign finance rules, the expansion of the voting body and the end of gerrymandering. Lessig said entering the Democratic debates was a key component of his campaign. “I may be known in tiny corners of the tubes of the Internets,” he said, “but I am not well known to the American public generally.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4096999/lawrence-lessig-ends-campaign/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4096999/lawrence-lessig-ends-campaign/"},"headline":"Lawrence Lessig Ends Campaign for Democratic Nomination","datePublished":"2015-11-02T20:59:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:56.924Z","description":"Lessig: “Unless we can time-travel, there is no way I can qualify” for the next debate","url":"https://time.com/4096999/lawrence-lessig-ends-campaign/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta896be94625bbf43/69886f36428a9e503dccfe3b/lawrence-lessig.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta896be94625bbf43/69886f36428a9e503dccfe3b/lawrence-lessig.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Democratic Candidates Attend New Hampshire Democratic Party Convention","caption":"Democratic Candidates Attend New Hampshire Democratic Party Convention","creditText":"Scott Eisen—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4096999/lawrence-lessig-ends-campaign/","name":"Lawrence Lessig Ends Campaign for Democratic Nomination"}}]}] ```