Democrats Clash over Timing of Formally Nominating Biden

The Washington Post / Paul Kane, Leigh Ann Caldwell, Tyler Pager

17:42 JST, July 17, 2024

Democratic infighting erupted into new territory Tuesday as a trio of party elders pushed to stick with formally nominating President Biden weeks ahead of the party’s national convention, prompting some House Democrats to demand a slower process amid calls for him to step aside.

Democrats are warring over whether Biden is the right person to remain atop their ticket following his faltering debate performance and his ensuing drop in some key state polls against former president Donald Trump. But new fault lines are emerging over somewhat obscure party nominating rules ahead of the Aug. 19 Democratic convention as well as ballot access deadlines in all 50 states.

The president’s advisers and closest supporters want to put the dispute to rest as quickly as possible by ensuring he is formally nominated by thousands of Democratic delegates. But after a June 27 debate in which Biden spoke haltingly and at times seemed confused, others are convinced he needs to exit the race and yield to someone new.

Three Biden allies who previously chaired the Democratic National Committee sent an email Tuesday to the roughly 180 members of the DNC’s rules committee pushing to hold a “virtual roll call” to formally nominate Biden and Vice President Harris by early August.

“It should conclude in advance of August 7. This is a small but important step to ensure that Democratic nominees appear on every ballot in the United States this fall,” wrote Donna Brazile, former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe and former Vermont governor Howard Dean.

Under normal timing, the major parties formally nominate their candidates on the floor of their respective conventions, as GOP delegates did Monday with Trump in Milwaukee. But Democrats scheduled their convention to start more than a week after the Closing Ceremonies of the Olympics in Paris, with the nominee’s acceptance speech not coming till Aug. 22.

This late start has created some confusion over ballot access deadlines – particularly in Ohio, where conservative election officials discussed keeping Biden’s name off the ballot. That led to a decision to hold a virtual roll call sometime before the state’s Aug. 7 ballot certification deadline.

Some Democrats agree and remain supportive of the Biden-Harris ticket, if for no other reason than fear of chaos. But other House Democrats have responded furiously to what they consider meritless scare tactics from party officials who they say are trying to ram a politically vulnerable president through the official nominating process.

These Democrats consider the Brazile-McAuliffe-Dean argument to be a Trojan horse with the true goal of shutting down talks of replacing Biden.

“There is no legal justification for this extraordinary and unprecedented action which would effectively accelerate the nomination process by nearly a month,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) wrote in a draft of a letter meant for DNC officials. Huffman’s draft letter – which he hopes will be signed by those who want Biden replaced and those who remain his staunch supporters – warned of a possible video meeting as early as Sunday of DNC delegates to formalize Biden’s nomination.

Huffman, who clashed with Biden during a Saturday call with the Congressional Progressive Caucus, began circulating the letter Tuesday to dozens of his colleagues, according to several Democratic lawmakers. The goal was to get nearly 50 signatures to demonstrate their strength, with initial targets coming from within the California delegation.

Huffman said in a brief interview that support was “growing and substantial.”

Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.), from a key swing district in the critical battleground state, said she would sign on and estimated that 25 Democrats showed interest by midday Tuesday.

Wild has hosted Biden and other key officials in her district repeatedly, including a June 28 visit by first lady Jill Biden the day after the president’s poor debate performance against Trump.

Huffman’s draft letter noted that Ohio has passed legislation that would allow the Democratic nominee to be placed on its ballot once the convention concludes.

“Stifling debate and prematurely shutting down any possible change in the Democratic ticket through an unnecessary and unprecedented ‘virtual roll call’ in the days ahead is a terrible idea. It could deeply undermine the morale and unity of Democrats,” he wrote.

The various panels overseeing the DNC process are stocked with presidential loyalists, so the lawmakers could be fighting an uphill battle.

According to several election experts interviewed by The Washington Post, swapping the top of the ticket before the convention is quite easy because there isn’t an official nominee yet and ballots haven’t been printed.

These experts also said Republicans would have little ground to challenge such a switch in the courts. It gets more complicated if Democrats attempt to replace Biden after he becomes the official nominee. But even then, most experts say they believe courts would defer to the political party to pick its new nominee.

In mid-June, before the Biden-Trump debate, DNC officials laid out a new plan to hold meetings with various committees meeting ahead of the Chicago convention, including a Friday huddle by the rules committee. That plan stated that the DNC, out of legal necessity because of Ohio, would re-create a virtual roll call the committee used during the pandemic-era convention four years ago.

Ben Kindel, a spokesman for the GOP Ohio Secretary of State, said in a statement: “The issue is resolved in Ohio, and Democrat proxies know that and should stop trying to scapegoat Ohio for their own party’s dysfunction. Remember, they only ran into an issue with the deadline in the first place by scheduling their convention after the well-established deadline under Ohio law. Now that their candidate is clearly floundering, they blame Republicans.”

Following Biden’s debate performance, more than 20 congressional Democrats have called for him to step aside for a new nominee, possibly Harris.

Biden has been fighting back, both during contentious calls with Democratic caucuses over the weekend and with his advisers who are trying to talk directly to lawmakers to quell the rebellion.

His deepest reservoir of support comes from the longest-serving members of the Congressional Black Caucus, several of whom flew with him on Air Force One to Las Vegas for Tuesday’s appearance before a gathering of the NAACP.

“I am all in,” he told the crowd, which chanted, “Four more years!” even as the most senior Democratic leaders have gone quiet in the Biden discussions.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) visited Biden at the White House on Thursday after the president’s nearly hour-long news conference that which was intended to demonstrate his command of issues. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) went to Biden’s home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., for a one-on-one visit Saturday.

Neither Democratic leader has discussed what they told Biden, with many rank-and-file lawmakers still unclear what their leaders said to the president.

In their memo to the DNC’s rules committee, the three former party chairmen cited several other states with early ballot deadlines besides Ohio. They suggested that any type of delay to later in August – which has always been the convention date before the debate – would invite conservative lawyers to undermine the election.

“National elections have become hyper-litigious, with the Republican Party and aligned organizations using every potential basis – meritorious or not – to challenge the process in court. In this environment, avoiding potential complications and ensuring certainty is of the utmost importance,” Brazile, Dean and McAulife wrote.

Huffman said that would deflate the party’s activist base.

“Democratic unity and enthusiasm will be critical between now and November 5th. We respectfully but emphatically request that you cancel any plans for an accelerated “virtual roll call” and further refrain from any extraordinary procedures that could be perceived as curtailing legitimate debate or attempting to force an early resolution of the party nomination,” he wrote.