AND’ The list of questions left open by Joe Biden’s sensational renunciation of re-election is long and has left the Democrats in an unprecedented situation of modern history, that is, in the position of having to move towards a plan B, that is, a new nomination for the White House less than a month from the convention and just over three months from Election Day.
The Democratic Party rules provide the answer to some of these questions, while for others we will still have to wait for political developments and possible legal challenges to have answers, recalls NBCNews, which provides a list of these questions.
Should Biden release his delegates?
No, because the Democratic Party has different rules than the Republican Party, which instead binds delegates to vote at the convention for the candidate for whom they were elected in the primaries. The only constraint they have is to “reflect in good faith the feelings of those who elected them”. Obviously, it must be taken into account that the Biden campaign has chosen delegates from among its supporters for their loyalty, so it is likely that Biden’s endorsement for Kamala Harris will be heard, but it is not binding.
Will Harris automatically get delegate support?
The answer is obviously no, the vice president will have to win their support by convincing them. In less than 24 hours after Biden’s resignation, hundreds of the approximately 4,000 delegates have given their support to Harris, in some cases entire delegations from a state.
Can Harris Take Control of Biden’s Campaign Coffers?
It has already done so: the Biden-Harris campaign has already filed documents with the Federal Election Commission to change the name to ‘Harris for President’. This will allow it to have control of the nearly 96 million that were in the Biden campaign’s coffers at the end of June. The Democrats’ lawyers are confident that the move is legitimate, since Harris’ name was on the original campaign. But it must be remembered that American politics is in uncharted territory, and it is not excluded that someone, namely the Republicans, could file a legal challenge to this move.
Another virtual Democratic convention before Chicago?
The answer to this question is not yet clear. Before Biden’s withdrawal, the virtual vote for the candidate had been set for the first week of August. Initially decided in response to a move by Ohio that had brought forward the deadline for submitting the names of the candidates on the ballot to before the convention on August 19, the virtual ‘roll call’ had been supported in recent weeks by Biden’s loyalists to secure his candidacy in advance of the convention. Also because it has now emerged that the Ohio law will not come into force until September.
Some say keeping the virtual roll call two weeks away would allow the party to arrive in Chicago with a candidate, or candidates, and thus avoid an overly chaotic convention.
When will there be the new nomination?
This is still to be determined. If in the coming days the party will unite around the name of Harris, who is continuing to receive heavy endorsements, then she could be crowned with the virtual vote by August 7. But the party committee still has to meet next Wednesday to finalize the issue of the virtual ‘roll call’, it could cancel it, thus postponing the vote to the convention, or even bring it forward.
Other candidates against Harris?
Yes, but so far no one has. Many of the possible candidates whose names have been circulating in recent weeks, such as California Governor Gavin Newsom or Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, have already endorsed Harris. But someone could run, and according to some sources, Joe Manchin, the centrist senator who left the Democratic Party in May to become an independent, is considering it, and he has been a thorn in the side of the Biden administration, blocking important legislative packages with his crucial vote.
What a Dem Must Do to Run Against Veep
In addition to acting quickly, he must collect the signatures of at least 300 delegates, but no more than 600, not exceeding the threshold of 50 for each state. Each candidate can sign only one petition of a candidate. Considering that there are 4,700 delegates and super delegates, the number of possible candidates could reach a maximum of 15, in a nightmare scenario of complete chaos that the Democrats will surely try in every way to avoid in the coming weeks.
Do you have to be a Democrat to run for office?
Technically, yes. According to the 2024 convention convening document, presidential candidates must sign a pledge that they are “true Democrats” whose political careers and public positions are “loyal to the interests, fortunes and successes of the Democratic Party.” It is also true, however, that Senator Bernie Sanders has twice run as an independent.
Will Dems be at risk of disappearing from the ballot in some states?
This is a point that the Republicans are insisting on, also raising the possibility of legal appeals by some states, but it does not seem that there will be problems. The party rules establish how to assign the nomination and there has not yet been a convention and therefore Biden, although winner of the primaries, was not yet formally the candidate at the time he gave up on continuing the race for the White House.
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