Biden's lackluster performance Debate Performance Thursday night, Hoarse voiceopen-mouthed expressions, rambling answers Key Questions And it is perceived that they were unable to refute it. Some lies Former President Donald Trump's resignation has stoked concern among many Democrats in Washington and sparked discussion about a possible alternative to Trump among the Democratic nominees in the 2024 presidential election.
Asked whether the president would step down after his debate performance, Biden campaign spokeswoman Mia Ellenberg said “absolutely not.” Asked whether there had been any discussions about Biden stepping down, spokesman Michael Tyler said “there have been no discussions about that at all.”
And new It energized Biden. Speaking at a campaign rally in North Carolina the next day, Trump showed no signs of backing down. “I'm not debating as well as I used to,” he acknowledged, but added, “I know how to get things done. And I know, as millions of Americans know, that you can get knocked down and get back up.”
The question for Democrats is whether they should replace the 81-year-old presumptive Democratic nominee. How that process would play out under Democratic National Committee rules is another matter.
Here's how the process could go, according to experts and DNC rules.
Biden must voluntarily step down
Experts on election law and procedure agree that the president cannot be removed from the race; he would have to do so voluntarily. Biden has almost all of the delegates he won in the primaries, and most states have already finished their primaries.
“This all assumes that Biden himself agrees to this,” said John Fortier, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who studies the Electoral College selection process and political continuity.
Fortier said replacing a party nominee like Biden would be “extremely difficult and unlikely to happen.”
“I don't see it happening because there are a lot of reasons why it would be difficult,” he said.
Timing of major party candidate changes
Fortier said that if Biden were to step down, it would almost certainly happen “before or during the convention.”
Resigning before the Democratic National Convention would be legally easy but politically difficult, said Derek Mueller, a University of Notre Dame law professor who specializes in election law.
“The days before the convention are politically chaotic, but not legally chaotic,” said Mueller, who said there are no legal obstacles to him stepping down as the Democratic nominee.
The National Election Crisis Task Force noted that if this were to happen before the convention, it would fall to the Democratic convention delegates to decide who would replace Biden as the nominee.
If Biden were to step down before the party's convention begins in Chicago on Aug. 19, it would have a major impact on how Democrats decide who to replace him. Mueller and Fortier agree that the most likely candidate would be Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Of course, Harris will be negotiating with the parties in advance to try to build a common front,” Fortier said. “Right now, the most likely outcome is that Kamala Harris wins.”
But that's by no means a guaranteed outcome: There could be other candidates vying to make their case for the thousands of delegates currently pledged to vote for Biden.
If Harris becomes the presidential nominee before the convention, she could choose as her running mate another prominent Democratic figure, perhaps one who performed well at the open convention.
A contested tournament?
As of now, the Democratic National Committee is expected to formally nominate Biden and Harris through a virtual roll call by Aug. 7, nearly two weeks before the party's nominating convention, which runs from Aug. 19 to 22, and about a week and a half before the convention. The virtual roll call was initially planned to be held in Vote Certification Deadline Ohio will hold its presidential election on the same day, and Ohio law requires presidential candidates to be formally nominated 90 days before Election Day.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed a bill on June 3 that will ensure Biden appears on the November ballot, but the Democratic National Committee still plans to go ahead with a virtual roll call, The Associated Press reported.
Because of the virtual roll call, “we don't know what a dispute would look like at the caucus, if any.”
DNC rules state that “delegates elected to the national convention, who pledge allegiance to the presidential candidate, shall act in accordance with their conscience and reflect the sentiments of the people who elected them.”
Fortier said this means delegates would have to vote for Biden on the first ballot.
“Delegates are bound on the first vote, and Biden would essentially relinquish or withdraw his delegates, and then everyone would go into the second round undecided,” if Biden were to withdraw, he said.
Mueller said there could be room for interpretation and that Democrats could vote for someone other than Biden if they coalesce around a new candidate before the convention.
“I think it will be a strong incentive for people to show their support for other candidates rather than voting for Biden.”
If the first vote is inconclusive, so-called superdelegates (party leaders or elected representatives within the party) will vote in subsequent votes. Delegates then continue voting until a candidate is determined, which could be a lengthy process depending on how united the delegates are.
If Biden resigns after being nominated
According to the National Elections Task Force, if Biden accepts the nomination at the convention and then withdraws it, the Democratic National Committee would select a new nominee “by majority vote in a special meeting convened by the Chair.”
DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison will consult with Democratic congressional leaders and Democratic governors, then report back to DNC members, who will select a new candidate.
For example, this process was used in 1972 when Democratic vice presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton withdrew his nomination and members of the Democratic National Committee voted to nominate Sargent Shriver in his place.
Past competitions
Convention battles can be long and tough. At the 1924 Democratic National Convention, a record 103 votes were needed to nominate John W. Davis for president and Charles W. Bryan for vice president, but Bryan was defeated in November.
In 1968, Robert Kennedy (father of current independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.) entered the race late after President Lyndon Johnson announced in late March that he would not seek reelection. Kennedy was on track to win more delegates than anti-war candidate Senator Eugene McCarthy, but was shot and killed shortly after delivering a speech following his victory in the California primary.
Instead of nominating an existing candidate, the Democrats chose then-Vice President Hubert Humphrey, chosen by President Johnson at their Chicago convention, who lost to Richard Nixon in November of that year.
If the Democrats held their convention today, the presidential candidates would go to each state's delegations to make their case.
But Fortier again said replacing the top candidate would be “very difficult and unlikely to happen.”
