WASHINGTON — The Democratic National Committee has taken a significant step toward formally nominating Joe Biden as the party's presidential candidate before the Democratic Convention in August, a move that is necessary to get Biden on Ohio's ballot in November's election, The States Newsroom reported.
A Democratic National Committee spokesman said committee members finalized their vote Thursday by moving forward with an all-online roll call vote, with 360 members voting in favor, two against and five abstaining.
Additionally, the Democratic National Convention plans to provide an online portal where Democrats can indicate what they want to see included in the party platform that will be developed ahead of the national convention.
During the Biden-Harris administration's first term, “we have seen the incredible results that can be achieved when democratic ideas are put into action,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison said in a statement.
“As we chart a path to the 2024 Democratic National Convention, I'm excited to announce that this year we will hear from more Americans and get more input than ever before through our testimony portal,” Harrison wrote. “We will build a platform rooted in the collective American experience and mobilize people to vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in November.”
Virtual Roll Call
For Biden and Harris to be nominated by Ohio's deadline, the Democratic National Committee's qualifications and rules committees must next adopt reports so a virtual roll call can be held to formally nominate Biden and Harris before the party's convention.
The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to begin in Chicago on August 19, but Ohio requires presidential candidates to be formally nominated at least 90 days before Election Day.
The Democratic National Committee is also moving forward with plans to hold some form of traditional roll call during the convention, but the party is looking to “build on the success” of the roll call votes held during the fully online 2020 presidential nominating convention, necessitated by the pandemic.
A DNC spokesperson told States Newsroom that the goal of this year's nominations during convention week is to engage more Americans beyond just the delegates at the United Center in Chicago.
A spokesman said Democrats are seeking to revive an element of the 2020 roll call vote they've dubbed a “national roll call.”
During the all-virtual nominating vote at the 2020 convention, Democratic delegates cast their ballots from some historic, and sometimes unusual, locations.
These included the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama, the Joseph R. Biden Jr. Train Station in Delaware, a cornfield in Iowa, an art studio and community center in Louisiana, a field with grazing cows in Montana, Biden's childhood home in Pennsylvania and a beach in Rhode Island where a chef had a plate of fried calamari.
Democratic Party Platform
In addition to working on the Biden-Harris nomination, the Democratic National Committee is preparing to craft the party's official platform in the coming weeks.
The Democratic National Committee will launch an online portal on Friday where all Democrats can fill out a form detailing what they want in this year's party platform, a spokesman said.
Available in English and Spanish.
The first Platform Committee meeting will be held on July 16th, followed by the Rules Committee meeting on July 19th and the first Certification Committee meeting on July 21st.
These meetings come the same week that Republicans will gather in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to hold their convention and formally nominate Donald Trump as their presidential candidate.
All DNC committee meetings will be held virtually and streamed online for anyone to watch. Each committee will include roughly 200 participants from 57 states and territories.
The DNC also announced the 15 members of its platform drafting committee on Friday.
The list includes former White House Legislative Affairs Director Louisa Terrell, former Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Ted Kaufman, who worked in Biden's U.S. Senate office before serving as a Delaware senator, Jeremy Bash, who served as chief of staff at the CIA and the Pentagon, Rebecca Brocato, who served as special assistant to Biden and senior director of legislative affairs at the National Security Council, Marla Blunt Carter, who served as project manager and director of constituent services in Biden's Senate office and as senior advisor and political strategist to Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, Joel Gamble, former vice chairman of the National Economic Council, and Josh Theu, former counsel and chief legal adviser to Vice President Harris. The panel includes Angela Kelly, chief counsel for policy and partnerships at the American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association; former South Carolina Senator Marlon Kimpson; Rohini Kosoglu, a former deputy assistant to Biden and domestic policy adviser to Harris; Lori Rodes, executive director of Climate Power, a political group focused on climate change; Jeff Peck, who worked as counsel and staff director for Biden on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the late 1980s and early 1990s; Bharat Ramamurthy, former vice chairman of the National Economic Council; and Hilda Solis, who served as Secretary of Labor in the Obama administration.
The drafting committee's first meeting will be held on July 11. The meeting will be held virtually and will be available for the public to watch on the DNC's YouTube page.
“As we move forward in the final sprint to the 2024 Democratic National Convention, under the leadership of President Biden and Vice President Harris, we look forward to leveraging the rich diversity of our party and hearing from Americans from all walks of life as we set the course for the next four years,” Democratic National Convention Chair Mignon Moore said in a statement.
“The strength of the Democratic Party is its diversity, and together we will build a platform that reaffirms our identity as Democrats and sets us on a path to victory again in November.”
