Joe Biden cast doubt that the Democratic National Convention will take place as planned because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s hard to envision that. Again, we should listen to the scientists,” Biden told MSNBC late Tuesday.
But he added that he would be guided by public health advice because “who knows by the time we get into June, July, August, September what it’s going to look like.”
“We ought to be able to do what we were able to do in the middle of the Civil War all the way through the World War II: have Democratic and Republican conventions, and primaries, and elections, and still have public safety. We were able to do both, but the fact is it may have to be different,” he said, referring to mail-in ballots.
The convention is set to be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from July 13 through July 16, a little more than 100 days away. The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games was due to start on July 24 but was postponed for a year because of the COVID-19 virus outbreak.
Biden’s admission represents an evolution of his thinking. In March, he insisted the gathering shouldn’t “be called off.”
“I think we ought to be able to conduct our democratic processes, as well as deal with this issue,” he told CNN.
The Democratic Party is expected to select its nominee and adopt its platform for the cycle at the event, with a spokeswoman suggesting publicly that the organization had no intention of moving their schedule — yet.
“There are no plans to cancel the convention and we are not considering a rules change at this time,” Xochitl Hinojosa, the Democratic National Committee’s spokeswoman, told Politico. “Contingency planning is a routine part of preparations for any convention.”
The Republican National Convention is supposed to run from Aug. 24-27, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
