President Biden’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race leaves Democrats scrambling to replace him with less than four months to go until Election Day.
What follows is an unprecedented series of events, with Kamala Harris emerging as the favorite, but far from certain to become the party’s nominee.
The Democratic National Party Convention will take place in Chicago from August 19 to 22, and Biden had been expected to formally accept the nomination there.
What are the nomination rules?
The Democratic Party has established rules governing what happens if the president resigns before being formally nominated.
Although Biden had the delegates he needed, his formal nomination would take place during a virtual roll call before the convention. The latest guidance is that this would happen in the first two weeks of August, but not before August 1.
Because Biden withdrew from the race before officially becoming the nominee, the more than 3,900 delegates can cast their votes for any candidate during an open convention.
Every Biden alternative whose name was mentioned before he dropped out of the race maintained that they supported Biden. It is unclear who, other than Harris, would jump into the race with his departure.
If a candidate receives a majority of the pledged delegates on the first ballot, he becomes the party’s nominee.
If no candidate wins a majority, then the nearly 740 so-called “superdelegates,” also known as automatic delegates, are also allowed to vote. They are a mix of party members and elected officials.
Voting continues until one candidate has a majority of the delegates.