Despite recents calls for him to step aside due to his health conditions, President Joe Biden will receive the official nomination from fellow Democrats for a second term in a virtual vote as planned in late July, ahead of the party’s national convention.
Biden will be nominated weeks before his party gathers for its Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 19, a plan that was announced long before Biden’s “shaky” June 27 debate against Donald Trump.
Exactly how the early nominating process will work is unclear, however, said the state party officials and national Democrats.
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Reuters spoke to more than 20 of the 4,500 delegates who will be involved in the nomination. Eight told Reuters they either had not heard about what senior Democrats have described as a “virtual roll call” or they had not heard any details on it recently.
Under pressure
Biden, 81, is under continued pressure and scrutiny from some lawmakers, donors and activists to drop his reelection campaign.
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The concerns revolve around his mental fitness, in the wake of his disastrous presidential debate performance.
But Biden campaign officials said they expect that Saturday’s assassination attempt on Republican rival Donald Trump will lower the pressure on Biden.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden insists he is not going anywhere and says he is best equipped to beat Trump.
Early nomination
The early nomination was needed to deal with an Ohio law that could have kept Biden’s name off ballots in the state if he wasn’t nominated by Aug. 7, prior to the convention in Chicago.
Democrats are still moving forward with the plan even though Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill in late May to secure Biden’s spot on the state’s ballot.
An online or virtual vote means no chance of a live convention floor battle in Chicago that could embarrass Biden.
How will it work
Many of the details will be determined on July 19 and 21, when the party’s convention rules and credentials committee meet, respectively.
Any virtual nomination process is likely to happen within days of those meetings, officials said.
Some Democratic National Committee officials and the Biden campaign said to expect something similar to 2020, when the COVID pandemic forced the party to hold a virtual roll call.
Others said the early nomination process will be much less dramatic, with delegates filling out online voting forms and a bureaucratic marking of Biden’s nomination without the roll call.
4,500 Delegates
In 2024 there will be an estimated 4,532 delegates at the Democratic National Convention, including 3,788 pledged delegates and 744 “automatic” delegates, more commonly known as “superdelegates”.
To win the Democratic nomination, a presidential candidate needs to receive the support of a majority, roughly 1,895 of the pledged delegates in the first roll call. If the candidate does not get the majority during the first vote, the superdelegates (who are free to vote for whoever they like) will join and help decide in the second call.
During the party’s primary election Biden secured the support of some 3,900 delegates, facing no real challenge to his bid.
The delegates are expected to be given three options: support Biden, uncommitted or leave blank, according to party officials.
On Thursday, July 11, Biden was asked about the possibility that delegates will defect from supporting him.
“Obviously they’re free to do whatever they want, but they … I get overwhelming support,” Biden said. “It’s not going to happen.”
What if Biden steps down after nomination?
The 435 members of the Democratic National Committee would choose a new candidate in a special session, if Biden should choose to step down after receiving the Democratic nomination.
The members of the Committee are divided roughly equally between men and women as well as various constituency groups including labor leaders, LGBTQ representatives, and racial minorities.
Of the total, 75 are appointed at-large by the chair, while the rest are elected in their respective states.
Reuters contributed to this report.
