2024 election: Democrats promise ‘orderly process’ to replace Biden, but questions remain

WASHINGTON (AP) — Shortly after President Donald Trump Joe Biden announced that he would do it Abandon his re-election campaignDemocratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison had a message: There would be no automatic coronation for his replacement.

“In the coming days, the party will undertake a transparent and orderly process to move forward,” Harrison said in a statement. “This process will be governed by the rules and procedures established by the party. Our delegates “They are prepared to take seriously their responsibility to quickly present a candidate to the American people.”

The comment reflected the reality that while the Vice President Kamala Harris He is emerging as the clear favorite to become the party’s nominee (already backed by Biden and many Democrats), but it’s not that simple. And for now, the party is not offering many details about what will happen next.

Some DNC members had already begun privately discussing contingency plans for the possibility of Biden stepping aside before his decision to formally do so on Sunday, and a committee that sets party rules for the Democratic National Conventionwhich opens Aug. 19 in Chicago, will meet virtually Wednesday afternoon to discuss next steps.

Harris must formally secure the nomination from among the nearly 4,700 candidates. Democratic convention delegates —including those who pledged to Biden, as well as elected officials, former presidents and other longtime party members known as superdelegates. He spent part of Sunday calling elected officials and delegates to consolidate his support.

Biden won the Democratic primary in every state and Harris was on the shortlist as his running mate. The fact that he chose her as his successor while dropping out of the race further strengthens his case, as does the support of party heavyweights like South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn. Other senior Democrats openly backed the vice president even before Biden dropped out of his re-election bid, urging him to “pass the torch” to her in the wake of his Lackluster performance in the debate against the Republican candidate Donald Trump last month.

“People are going to have their say, and they should. I think we’re seeing a lot of unity around the vice president,” said Rahna Epting, executive director of the progressive organization MoveOn. “And that’s important because, as we saw throughout the fallout from the Biden debate, there’s momentum that can be built one way or the other, and it’s important that we build momentum toward unity.”

Ken Martin, president of the Association of Democratic State Committees, which represents all 57 parties in the states and territories, said Harris was the obvious choice: “Having worked alongside President Biden, she is ready on day one as a candidate and as our next chair.” She also received the backing of the American Federation of Teachers union, which has 1.75 million members.

But Democratic rules call for delegates “in good conscience” to vote only for the candidate they were elected to represent, with no mechanism for defectors. And some party members have backed an open nomination process.

There has been an active debate about how to proceed among lawmakers, major donors and former senior officials from the Biden, Obama and Clinton administrations, said a Democrat with deep ties to the Biden administration.

The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations, argued that Harris would benefit from a competitive mini-primary before the Democratic convention because it would help cement her as a strong candidate and lessen criticism that she has been anointed in an undemocratic way. That’s an accusation the Trump campaign has already tried to use it against him and it could have a huge impact in the battle for undecided voters in battleground states.

Such a scenario, however, could leave Democrats heading into their convention without a clear nominee and may have to choose one through a series of potentially confusing floor votes. That could mean leading Democratic candidates seeking to replace Biden resort to visiting individual state delegations to lobby — a process not seen since 1960, when Johnson and John F. Kennedy competed for support during their party’s convention in Los Angeles.

If that happens, in addition to Harris, several other top Democrats could be in the running for the nomination, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and California Rep. Ro Khanna, though many of them said shortly after Biden’s announcement that they were formally endorsing Harris.

Inside the White House, meanwhile, there are few expectations that Harris will face a serious challenge, according to a person familiar with the deliberations who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Others who have been mentioned as viable contenders, including Shapiro and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, have also endorsed Harris and appear unlikely to run in light of Biden’s endorsement and the expected fundraising advantage she would have over anyone else entering the race.

To further complicate matters, the DNC had planned to hold a virtual recount to choose its nominee before the convention, in order to comply with Ohio’s eligibility rules. The original deadline for voting in that state was Aug. 7, and although the Legislature passed a law overriding it, it doesn’t go into effect until Sept. 1.

DNC lawyers say that means the party could face legal challenges in Ohio if it doesn’t name its party’s nominee by the state’s original deadline. But the convention rules committee has said it won’t set a date for the virtual roll call vote, which could take place over several days, before Aug. 1.

Some Democrats fear a slew of other GOP legal challenges, including from New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who had argued to keep Biden in the race by arguing that replacing him could trigger “a presidential election decided by Clarence Thomas and the Supreme Court,” like what happened during the 2000 presidential election and the disputed recount in Florida.

At Wednesday’s convention rules committee meeting, members could set virtual slate rules and a process for nominating Harris or create a more open process for choosing a nominee, according to a person familiar with the process on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

“During the convention, we will have the opportunity to show the country and the world who we are as Democrats and what we stand for,” said Minyon Moore, chair of the Democratic convention, in a statement.

DNC chairman Harrison stopped short of endorsing Harris in a statement, saying only: “The American people will soon hear from the Democratic Party about the next steps and the path forward for the nominating process.”

On Sunday, Harrison also participated in a virtual meeting of the convention’s credentials committee, sounding somber, telling members, “I’m excited.”

“I still stand by my president,” Harrison said of Biden. “And we will get through this, my friends, like we always do.”

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Associated Press writer Colleen Long contributed to this report.