Democrats plan to formally renominate President Joe Biden in a virtual vote the first week of August, before the party’s national convention, despite protests from some Democrats who want more time for the party to consider alternative nominees.
The plan was formally announced in a letter to members of the Democratic National Committee sent Wednesday morning, following weeks of internal wrangling over whether Biden should continue after his lackluster performance in the debates.
Parties typically nominate their presidential standard-bearers during live roll call votes at their national conventions, which are often a highlight of the events. But Democrats planned for the unusual virtual roll call before the convention to avoid potential litigation in Ohio, they say.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, co-chair of the Democratic National Convention Rules Committee, told reporters Wednesday that the early nomination has nothing to do with Biden’s debate performance last month or doubts about his ability to defeat former President Donald Trump.
“This meeting has been planned for months, Friday’s, and it was never intended to be a virtual roll call. It will set the agenda as the Rules Committee moves forward,” Walz said, referring to the committee’s upcoming first meeting.
Walz said virtual voting won’t begin until after Aug. 1 and must be completed by Aug. 7 to avoid potential legal challenges stemming from an Ohio law that set that date as a deadline for parties to file candidates for the November ballot.
However, Ohio officials say the deadline problem has already been resolved, thanks to legislation passed earlier this summer.
“The problem is solved in Ohio, and Democratic cronies know that and need to stop trying to blame Ohio for the dysfunction of their own party,” said Ben Kindel, a spokesman for Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican.
But Democrats say they don’t trust Republicans in control of Ohio to follow through. They worry about last-minute dirty tricks to get Biden off the ballot. LaRose seemed unwilling to budge when the deadline was first raised as an issue, and has a track record of being aggressive in disputes with Democrats.
The Ohio law changing the deadline doesn’t go into effect until September 1, so the original August 7 deadline will still be on the books if that date passes, creating a potential avenue for litigation.
Biden-supporting Democrats note that Ohio’s secretary of state had previously said the issue needed to be resolved by early May before he could put Biden’s name on the ballot. The legislature, however, did not pass the legislation until late May.
“We believe a virtual element is the wisest approach because it ensures access to the ballot box … and avoids potential risks if there is a delay in the process,” Walz and his Rules Committee co-chair, Bishop Leah Daughtry, wrote in the letter to DNC members.
“We know that the Republican Party and its affiliates … intend to pursue every conceivable legal challenge to the Democratic Party nominees,” they continued. “Unless the Democratic nominees for president and vice president are selected and certified for Ohio by August 7, we will likely face litigation over the effectiveness of our filings.”
Democrats chose an unusually late date for this year’s convention, which kicks off Aug. 19 in Chicago. And in the letter, Walz and Daughtry said the timing raises potential conflicts in several other states, such as Washington and Virginia, where parties have deadlines to submit their nominees during the convention period.
The Rules Committee co-chairs attempted to reassure DNC members by saying they do not want a “rushed virtual voting process” and will use Friday’s meeting to explain why they believe a virtual roll call vote is necessary and how it would work, but they will not immediately formalize any rules.
“If Biden was up 10 points, we would still be doing this because we were dealing with the Ohio situation,” said one Democrat familiar with the Rules Committee process, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak candidly. “Nothing has changed.”
A delegate who said they received a call from the Biden campaign Monday afternoon said the Biden campaign had said a previous virtual vote in late July was “still the goal.” The campaign official asked the delegate, who is an at-large delegate who has not pledged, if they were “ready for your experience as a pledged Biden delegate,” the person said.
Democrats skeptical of Biden’s physical and political health accuse the party of using the Ohio issue as a pretext to secure the president’s renomination.
“There is no legal justification for this extraordinary and unprecedented action that would effectively accelerate the nomination process by nearly a month,” reads a draft letter signed by more than 20 House Democrats and circulating on Capitol Hill.[S]“Disrupting debate and prematurely blocking any potential change to the Democratic ticket through an unnecessary and unprecedented ‘virtual roll call’ in the coming days is a terrible idea.”
But those House critics decided not to send the letter, said a spokesman for Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., who led the effort, in light of the DNC’s formal announcement of its plans.
Activists are still planning a rally on Friday outside the DNC headquarters in Washington to protest the virtual roll call vote and push for a new nominee.
Under Democratic Party rules, it is virtually impossible to replace the nominee unless the candidate decides to step down.
And Biden has a firm grip on the party apparatus, including the committees that make the rules, as is customary for any party with power in the White House.
He won 99% of the pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention during this year’s presidential primaries, when he essentially ran unopposed. And key party committees and leadership posts are filled with hand-picked Biden allies chosen in part for their loyalty to the president.