WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden ‘ stops debate performance Thursday night has led some within his own party to question whether he should be replaced before November.
There is no evidence that Biden is willing to end his campaign. And it would be nearly impossible for Democrats to replace him unless he chooses to step aside.
This is why:
Each state has already held its presidential primaries. Democratic rules dictate that the delegates Biden won remain obligated to support him at the party’s upcoming national convention unless he tells them he is dropping out of the race.
Biden indicated he had no plans to do so, telling his supporters in Atlanta shortly after leaving the debate stage: “Let’s keep going.” Biden’s campaign spokesperson Lauren Hill was even clearer, saying Friday: “Of course he’s not resigning.”
The conventions and their rules are controlled by the political parties. The Democratic National Committee may meet before the convention opens on August 19 and change how things will work, but that’s not likely as long as Biden wants to continue pursuing reelection.
The current rules state: “Delegates elected to the national convention who have endorsed a presidential candidate must honestly reflect the feelings of those who elected them.”
The vice president is Biden’s running mate, but that doesn’t mean she can automatically replace him first. Biden also can’t direct her to replace him if he suddenly decides to leave the race.
The Democratic National Convention is being held in Chicago, but the party has announced that it will virtual roll call to formally nominate Biden before the in-person proceedings begin. The exact date for the roll call has not yet been determined.
If Biden decides to abandon his reelection campaign, Harris would likely join other top Democratic candidates seeking to replace him. But that would likely set up a scenario in which she and others end up lobbying individual state delegations at the convention for their support.
That hasn’t happened for Democrats since 1960, when John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson jockeyed for votes at that year’s Democratic convention in Los Angeles.
In addition to the vice president, others who had endorsed Biden in 2024 while harboring their own presidential aspirations for future cycles include California Governor Gavin Newsom, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and California Representative. .Ro Khanna.
Others who defeated Biden in the party’s 2020 primaries could also try again, including Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
If Biden were to abruptly drop out, conservative groups have indicated they will file lawsuits across the country, potentially questioning the legality of the Democratic candidate’s name on the ballot.
But Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington who wrote a book on the presidential nomination process and is also a member of the Democratic National Committee’s regulatory arm, said courts have consistently stayed out of political primaries because as long as the parties running these rights did nothing that would conflict with other constitutional rights, such as voter suppression based on race.
“It is constitutionally very clear that this falls within the purview of the party,” Kamarck said in an interview before the debate. “The business of nominating someone to represent a political party is the business of the political party.”