Joe Biden is set to skip this week’s Democratic National Committee summer meeting in San Francisco.
The DNC, earlier this month, announced it had invited the 2020 presidential primary field to address its members, who could decide their political fates should no candidate secure enough delegates for the nomination heading into next year’s convention.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and California Sen. Kamala Harris will join a total of 13 White House hopefuls scheduled to speak with the “automatic delegates” this Friday at the gathering. Biden and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg are two top-tier contenders who are currently not on the agenda, but may still appear via video.
This could be the second time Biden misses a marquee event hosted in San Francisco. The former vice president caught flak at the end of May for opting out of the California Democratic Convention. At the moment, he is supposed to be in New Hampshire, though his campaign is still to release details about his upcoming trip.
Buttigieg, who will also spend this weekend in the Granite State, has reportedly already invested time and resources courting DNC members, key party officials once known as “superdelegates.”
DNC reforms introduced since 2016 mean members won’t be able to vote during the first ballot next July in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. However, they will be able to exert their influence should voting proceed to subsequent rounds.
[Also read: Six times Biden described major events in his life that never happened]
