Democrats are moving forward with plans select his next presidential candidate virtually, despite President Joe Bidenin abandoning his re-election bidannounced the party on Monday night.
In a conference call with reporters outlining the rules, party leaders were clear: plan remains formally nominate the presidential candidate before August 7, which officials say is a critical deadline due to a potential legal trouble in Ohio which they fear could force them out of the vote.
The party promised in a memo that the online process “will closely mirror the candidate nominating rules used for in-person conventions,” but said the process will be incredibly quick, with candidates having just a few days to declare their intentions to run. and present their cases to voters.
“The work ahead may be unprecedented, but we are prepared to undertake a transparent, swift and orderly process to move forward as a united Democratic Party with a candidate who represents our values,” said the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. james harrison he said. “We will present a presidential candidate by August 7th of this year.”
The Democratic National Convention begins on August 19th.
Biden stepped aside on Sunday and immediately supported the vice president Kamala Harris, which in one day consolidated the support of the entire party. No one else announced plans to seek the nomination, and all of the most discussed names dropped out of the race.
With Biden gone, his delegates to next month’s convention – 99% of those pledged – can support whoever they want and are under no obligation to follow his wishes. And Democrats are eager to avoid making their nomination process feel like a coronation.
The party’s Rules Committee will meet Wednesday to consider the virtual nominating plan. The panel, which has almost 200 members, needs to approve the proposal before it comes into force.
Harrison and Democratic National Convention Chairman Minyon Moore laid out the nomination process in a memo, saying it will be “open and fair.”
Other candidates could run against Harris but will need to act soon, as DNC officials have said the window could close as soon as this week.
To seek the nomination, any candidate needs at least 300 signatures from convention delegates, and no more than 50 from any state. The candidate must also declare a candidacy, which means that no one can be called to run. And delegates cannot support more than one candidate.
The party said it will establish a system that will allow candidates to collect and submit signatures electronically.
If more than one candidate qualifies — and it is unclear at this point whether credible candidates will emerge to challenge Harris — they will have “a few days” to present their cases to delegates and voters before the vote is held.
The party had been preparing for the virtual roll call vote since May, when the Republican-controlled Ohio Legislature was slow to resolve the deadline issue, meaning its fix technically won’t take effect until Aug. 7.
There was initially little controversy over a virtual convention because Biden’s nomination was seen as a given. But after Biden had a disastrous first debate and calls emerged for him to step aside, some Democrats called for a live voting process at an open convention.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
