Updated July 17, 2024 at 14:52 PM ET
The Democratic Party is moving ahead with a plan to hold a virtual roll call vote sometime in early August that would make President Biden the nominee before delegates gather at their convention in Chicago Aug 19-22.
The convention's rules committee chairs Leah Daughtry and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota said in a Wednesday letter that the early vote was the "wisest approach" to make sure the Democratic presidential and vice presidential candidates are on the ballot in every state.
What would ordinarily be an obscure paperwork issue for the party's lawyers and officials has this year become a lightning rod for Democratic anxiety about whether Biden should press on with his bid for a second term after he badly stumbled during a debate with former President Donald Trump.
Many Democrats are fearful of losses up and down the ticket in November, but Biden has insisted that he not leaving the race.
Earlier this week, a group of Democratic lawmakers drafted a letter asking the Democratic National Committee to halt plans to hold the virtual roll call vote before the party’s convention, calling it a “terrible idea” that would sap party morale.
But on Wednesday, they withdrew it. “We're glad to see that the pressure has worked and the DNC will not rush this virtual process through in July. We won't be sending the letter at this time," said a spokesperson for Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., one of the lawmakers discussing the draft letter.
Senate Leader Chuck Schumer pushed for the DNC to delay the vote into August, speaking with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who agreed that a July vote would be too soon, said a source familiar with the move, who spoke on condition of anonymity about the private conversations.
Here’s why the early vote is happening
Well before President Biden's disastrous June 27 debate, the DNC had announced the plan for a virtual roll call vote sometime before the convention.
The aim was to get around a deadline in an Ohio law to get the nominee on the November ballot — but on May 31, that state passed legislation that effectively negated the need for the DNC workaround.
Two DNC committees are slated to meet July 19 and July 21 to finalize the plan and set a date for the virtual vote.
Pressed on why the party is moving forward with virtual roll call plans even after the Ohio legislature passed a fix, Quentin Fulks, deputy campaign manager for the Biden campaign, said Democrats aren’t willing to take a risk on Ohio Republicans finding a way to keep Biden off the ballot.
“We moved forward, we instituted this before they had a fix. And we're going to continue on that path because we're not going to leave it up to them to change the rules again,” said Fulks.
The DNC is not trying to "fast-track" the vote, but rather ensure that the Democratic candidates are on the ballot in Ohio and other states, Leah Daughtry and Gov. Tim Walz of the convention's rules committee explained in their Wednesday letter.
"Unless Democratic nominees for President and Vice President are selected and certified to Ohio by August 7, we are likely to face litigation about the efficacy of our filings," they said. And they said there are a string of other early deadlines for ballot access paperwork that follow, such as Washington state on Aug. 20.
There’s concern, but still no organized push to oust Biden
Multiple Democratic sources tell NPR there are serious conversations, but no organized push, at the moment to press Biden to step aside. “There’s no way to force his hand here.” The other complication is that those involved in arguing the president should withdraw have not reached consensus about who should replace him. That lack of agreement is stalling any effective effort to recast the top of the ticket, multiple Democrats said.
“You can’t replace somebody with nobody,” the Democratic strategist said.
Biden has told members that anyone who wanted to could challenge him at the convention – a challenge he laid out publicly on July 8 in an interview on MNSBC’s Morning Joe. “If any of these guys don't think I should run, run against me. Go ahead. Announce for president. Challenge me at the convention,” Biden said in that interview.
But if Biden is the nominee already, it would be hard to mount that challenge, lawmakers said.
Texas Rep, Lloyd Doggett, the first lawmaker to publicly call for Biden to step aside, argued in a written statement on Wednesday that the nomination should be formalized at the convention.
"Those so eager to overly protect President Biden ignore his own words inviting anyone questioning his nomination to do so at the convention. Short-circuiting the normal convention process jeopardizes the White House, Senate and House," Doggett said.
Democrats both publicly and privately have warned that Biden’s debate performance is putting the prospects for the party to keep the Senate and flip control of the House out of reach. Democrats from red leaning districts have already publicly distanced themselves from the president. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., suggested Biden may not be up to the job to complete his term, saying in a statement last week, “I doubt the president’s judgment about his own health, his fitness to do the job, and whether he is the one making important decisions about our country, rather than unelected advisers.”
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