The Democratic Party is trying to speed up the ratification of US President Joe Biden as its candidate for the November elections and wants to conclude the process before the end of the month, although it faces opposition from some lawmakers in the Lower House.
On Tuesday, sources close to the Democratic Party told EFE that the idea is to telematically ratify Biden as a candidate before the end of July.
If carried out, the decision would put an end to the internal debate of recent weeks, in which some voices had called on Biden to end his re-election campaign after his weak performance in the June 27 debate against former President Donald Trump (2017–2021).
With the exception of 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, never before has a major party nominee been nominated virtually.
Presidential candidates are usually officially nominated during their conventions. Trump himself (2017–2021) was officially nominated as the Republican Party’s candidate on Monday, on the first day of the party’s convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) had already made its decision in May to officially nominate Biden as its candidate via telematics before the Democratic convention, scheduled for August 19–22 in Chicago, Illinois.
Until now, however, no approximate date had been set. Some voices had been against going ahead with such a procedure and had advocated opening the debate on the possibility of Biden withdrawing to allow a younger candidate to face Trump in the elections next November.
The dilemma with the state of Ohio
Last May, the Democratic National Committee justified its decision by referring to the problems that Ohio presented with regard to electoral deadlines, since that state determined that the parties had to register their presidential candidates before August 7 to ensure their presence on the ballots on election day.
With the Democratic convention set for Aug. 19–22, the Democratic National Committee said the nomination must be held by Aug. 7 and done virtually because otherwise Biden would risk being shut out of the Ohio race.
The situation, however, has changed in recent weeks, as lawmakers in Ohio passed a law setting the deadline for registering candidates for the end of August so that Biden could theoretically be nominated at the party convention, as has been customary.
The Democratic Party, however, distrusts the Republicans and believes that they could suddenly change the rules, so they have decided to stick to their original plan and nominate the president before the convention.
Opposition in the Lower House
Those arguments about Ohio’s dilemma, however, have not convinced some House Democrats, who say there is no longer any reason to speed up the process.
The group of lawmakers has drafted a letter calling the proposal to nominate Biden virtually a “terrible idea,” describing it as “unnecessary and unprecedented.” They also warn that this could “deeply undermine Democrats’ morale and unity,” from delegates, volunteers, and donors, “at the worst possible time.”
The letter has not yet been sent to the Democratic National Committee, and members are circulating it among congressmen to obtain more signatures.
4,000 delegates
Those responsible for naming the Democratic candidate will be the party’s more than 4,000 delegates, who were chosen during the primary process, in which Biden won the support of the majority of them by not facing significant opposition.
The nomination is made through a process called a ‘roll call’ in which delegates from each state, usually at conventions, say which candidate they support.
The more than 4,000 delegates are expected to begin casting their votes starting next Monday, a process that will likely take about a week, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
Once everyone has cast their vote, a committee of the Democratic National Committee is expected to quickly call the roll call, so that at that point—the exact date of which is not yet known—Biden will officially be the Democratic nominee for the November election.
The final step will be for Biden to give a speech during the convention in Chicago to officially accept his nomination.
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