WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s halting debate performance has led some in his own
party to begin questioning whether he should be replaced on the ballot before
November.
There
is no evidence Biden is willing to end his campaign. And it would be nearly
impossible for Democrats to replace him unless he chooses to step aside.
Here’s
why:
Delegates Biden won in the
primaries are pledged to support him
Every
state has already held its presidential primary. Democratic rules say that the
delegates Biden won should support him at the party’s upcoming national
convention unless he tells them he’s leaving the race.
The
president indicated that he had no plans to do that, telling supporters in
Atlanta shortly after he left the debate stage, “Let’s keep going.” Biden
campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt was even clearer, saying Friday: “Of course
he’s not dropping out.”
The
conventions and their rules are controlled by the political parties. The
Democratic National Committee could convene before the convention opens on Aug.
19 and change how things will work, but that isn’t likely as long as Biden
wants to continue seeking reelection.
The
current rules read: “Delegates elected to the national convention pledged to a
presidential candidate shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of
those who elected them.”
VP Kamala Harris couldn’t
automatically replace Biden
The
vice president is Biden’s running mate, but that doesn’t mean she can swap in
for him at the top of the ticket by default. Biden also can’t decree that she
replace him should he suddenly decide to leave the race.
The
Democratic National Convention is being held in Chicago, but the party has
announced that it will hold a virtual roll call to formally nominate Biden
before in-person proceedings begin. The exact date for the roll call has not
yet been set.
If
Biden opts to abandon his reelection campaign, Harris would likely join other
top Democratic candidates looking to replace him. But that would probably
create a scenario where she and others end up lobbying individual state
delegations at the convention for their support.
That
hasn’t happened for Democrats since 1960, when John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B.
Johnson jockeyed for votes during that year’s Democratic convention in Los
Angeles.
Other potential Democratic
candidates would also face challenges
In
addition to the vice president, others that had endorsed Biden in 2024 while
harboring their own presidential aspirations for future cycles include
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Gov.
Josh Shapiro, Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker and California Rep. Ro Khanna.
Still
others who Biden bested during the party’s 2020 presidential primary could also
try again, including Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Elizabeth Warren of
Massachusetts and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, as well as Transportation
Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
If
Biden were to abruptly leave the race, conservative groups have suggested they
will file lawsuits around the country, potentially questioning the legality of
the Democratic candidate’s name on the ballot.
But
Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings
Institution in Washington, who wrote a book about the presidential nominating
process and is also a member of the Democratic National Committee’s rulemaking
arm, said that courts have consistently stayed out of political primaries as
long as parties running them weren’t doing anything that would contradict other
constitutional rights, such as voter suppression based on race.
“This is very clear constitutionally that this is in the
party’s purview,” Kamarck said in an interview before the debate. “The business
of nominating someone to represent a political party is the business of the
political party.”
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