What Happens Now That Joe Biden Quit Race? DNC Process Explained
Here's what the Democratic National Committee's rules say about picking a new candidate to replace Biden as the party's nominee.
www.newsweek.com
21 July 2024 ~~ By Katherine Fung
President
Joe Biden has exited the 2024 race, leaving
Democrats scrambling to find a nominee less than four months before November's election.
Biden announced Sunday that he would step aside as the party's nominee, ending a decades-long political career after weeks of calls for the 81-year-old to withdraw from the race.
"It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term," Biden said in a statement posted on social media.
~Snip~
Facing little opposition in the Democratic primaries, Biden already won almost all of his party's 4,000-plus delegates with his state victories earlier this year. With Biden out, those delegates will have to cast their ballots for a new candidate.
n a statement emailed to
Newsweek, Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair
Jaime Harrison said that the party would "undertake a transparent and orderly process to move forward as a united
Democratic Party with a candidate who can defeat
Donald Trump in November."
~Snip~
What If There's a Contested Convention?
There is also a possibility that no candidate wins a majority on the roll call. If this happens, more than 700 "superdelegates" will also vote in a subsequent ballot. The process would continue until a candidate wins a simple majority.
"Superdelegates" consist of the senior party leaders and elected officials who automatically become delegates to the convention based on their positions. They are not allowed to vote on the first ballot, per DNC rules, but can vote on subsequent ballots.
What If a Candidate Leaves After the Convention?
In the unlikely situation in which the Democratic nominee leaves the race after the convention in Chicago, the committee is empowered to fill the vacancy after the party chair discusses a replacement with Democratic governors and congressional leaders.
While rare, such a scenario has happened. In 1972, Senator Thomas Eagleton, who was the vice presidential nominee, was forced to step aside after the convention when it became public that he had been hospitalized for mental illness.
The DNC later chose Sargent Shriver to replace Eagleton as nominee George McGovern's running mate, but the Democrats' failure to vet the senator led to a disappointing election in November, when
Republican Richard Nixon won in a landslide.
Commentary:
Presently, the disarray shown by the Democrats is akin to USSS agents at a Trump rally.
“The mini primary will not involve any voters, so it is not really like the other primaries.”
It means “Democracy” is not being valued or preserved. The Neo-Marxist insiders are going to decide, not the voters.
Not one primary vote delegate was won by Kamala Harris. And she could very well be the next President.
This means all those votes placed by Democrats in the primary no lomger count.
It’s going to be whatever the DNC Rules Committee allows. I’m guessing they’ll be meeting earlier than planned this year. Probably already are.
This is pure Soviet style Marxist action.
Whatever it is, it should be a hoot. Get the popcorn ready...
Chicago 1968 DNC Convention was a picnic as compared to what will occur at the DNC Convention beginning August 19th through August 22nd.
