The Democratic National Committee has voted to move forward with its plan to hold a virtual roll call ahead of its August convention in Chicago, with its newly adopted plan only giving candidates a small window of opportunity to challenge Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Democratic National Convention‘s rules committee met Wednesday afternoon to adopt a framework to select the party’s presidential nominee after President Joe Biden suspended his campaign Sunday.
The newly adopted plan only gives candidates from Thursday to 6 p.m. Saturday to declare their candidacy and gain 300 delegates with no more than 50 from one state to make their case for the virtual roll call by Tuesday.
The short deadline all but guarantees Vice President Kamala Harris will clinch the nomination, as she already has secured pledged support from more than the 1,976 delegates needed and does not have any public challengers. Voting on the nomination will likely begin on Aug. 1, however, if there are at least two candidates who qualify, voting will likely begin on Aug. 3.
A majority of the delegates are needed to secure the nomination in the first round of voting during the virtual roll call. If no candidate gains the majority in the first round, the top two candidates will move on to the second round of voting until a candidate wins the majority.
There will still be a ceremonial roll call during the Democratic National Convention.
Delegates have been released from earlier pledges to vote for Biden after he exited the race and can vote for whomever they would like. At least one delegate cautioned that a virtual roll call will not become the norm for the party conventions in the future.
Bishop Leah Daughtry, co-chairwoman of the rules committee, presided over the meeting along with Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), co-chairman of the rule committee and a possible running mate for Harris. Walz thanked attendees for their participation “as we create a successful convention process that brings our country and our party together,” as did Jaime Harrison, the DNC chairman.
“Your work here proves that our democracy is strong and our faith in our democracy is even stronger,” Harrison said. “Our process is reflective of that faith, and we are all working hard to execute this nomination with transparency, with fairness, and efficiency.”
Harrison also pushed back indirectly against GOP claims that the party had “rigged” the nomination for Harris.
“Many of you have probably seen the reporting that Vice President Harris has received expressed support from the majority of pledged delegates, and might wonder what that means for this process,” he said. “Delegates are free to support who they choose, and we are glad that they are engaging in this important moment in history. As a party, we have an obligation to design and implement a fair nomination process for delegates to officially express their preferences through a vote, resulting in, eventually, an official nominee of the Democratic Party who will go on to the top ballot in November.”
“We understand that this is an unprecedented situation, but I’m confident that we will find a path forward together,” Democratic National Convention Committee Chairwoman Minyon Moore added.
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When Biden was still the presumptive nominee, the DNC decided to hold the virtual vote to comply with the Ohio secretary of state’s warning that the state ballot certification deadline was on Aug. 7 ahead of the Chicago convention, when Biden would have accepted the nomination. However, the state legislature later amended the law extending the deadline. Democrats are still pushing forth with the virtual roll call to avoid any legal pitfalls, which party leaders repeatedly mentioned during the rules committee meeting.
“Republicans will use this moment to do what they do, to sue, to try to bar us from the ballot or to try to disqualify our voters and to suggest that somehow the party’s nominating process was improper,” DNC counsel Pat Moore said. “This threat is quite real. The RNC and affiliated dark money groups like Heritage Action have been publicly threatening legal action for weeks. And just on Monday, Speaker Mike Johnson joined their chorus, claiming we would face, ‘legal hurdles’ to and certain litigation about our ballot access in the state. Make no mistake, we have strong legal arguments in response to any such claims, and we’re prepared to make them.”
