Democrats will not hold a virtual roll call to formally nominate their presidential nominee until at least August, following protests from some who believe President Joe Biden’s nomination process is being rushed at his behest to thwart calls for him to step down.
TOP SHOT – US President Joe Biden arrives to speak about the economy at the Vote To Live Prosperity Summit at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada, July 16, 2024. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/AFP) (AFP) {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}}
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer requested the changes from the Democratic National Committee after consulting with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, according to a person familiar with the matter.
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The party will conduct the process online rather than at its convention in Chicago in late August, but there will be no delegate vote in July, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and convention rules committee chair Leah Daughtry said in a letter to delegates.
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“This virtual vote is not going to happen before August 1st. We just need to get it done, probably by August 15th,” Gov. Walz told reporters at a press conference in Milwaukee on Wednesday. He dismissed the controversy over the issue as a “social game.”
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Democrats had considered holding the vote as soon as July 21, when their convention’s qualifications committee meets online.
The party had been discussing such a move even before Biden’s debate performance alarmed allies in Ohio, where the deadline for candidates to qualify for the ballot was Aug. 7. A new state law extended that deadline, but speeding up Biden’s formal nomination could render calls for a presidential transition effectively moot.
“We believe virtual voting is the most prudent approach to ensure access to the ballot in states we need to win in November and avoid potential risks if the voting process is delayed,” Walz and Daughtry wrote in a letter to the party’s rules committee, which was obtained by Bloomberg and reported earlier by CBS News.
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The rapid push has drawn criticism, particularly from Democrats who have publicly urged Biden to reconsider his candidacy. On Capitol Hill, a letter circulated among Democratic offices earlier this week opposing rushing the nomination.
California Rep. Jared Huffman’s office said the effort has been abandoned for now.
“Expediting the nomination process is not the way to persuade many unconvinced voters in a growing number of battleground states,” said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat who has called on Biden to step aside. “Those who seek to overly defend President Biden are ignoring Biden’s own words, when he called on anyone who has doubts about the nomination to do so at the convention.”
The party’s anguish over the vote has frustrated the president’s campaign, which has sought to refocus voters’ attention on Donald Trump.
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“Republicans are lying about nearly every issue that affects the American people’s lives and we’re caught up in a story about the electoral process,” Quentin Fulks, deputy campaign chairman for the Biden campaign, said Wednesday.
Earlier this month, Biden called on challengers who have not endorsed his candidacy to launch a challenge at the party’s convention.
“Anyone who doesn’t think I should run, run against me. Run for president and challenge me at the convention,” Biden said in an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
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Realistically, it’s unlikely that another candidate will emerge unless Biden himself announces that he doesn’t want to seek reelection, although he has been adamant that he intends to continue in the campaign.
At a press conference last Thursday, the president said the delegates he won in the primaries were “free to do whatever they wanted.”
“But I have overwhelming support,” Biden added.
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