I’M SURE THEY WANT TO PULL A TORRICELLI, BUT IT’S TOUGH: Could Democrats replace Biden as their nominee?
Both parties have moved away from the era when insiders in proverbial smoke-filled rooms could be kingmakers at the national conventions, and Biden has dominated every primary he’s competed in thus far. . . .
Still, the DNC Charter does make provisions in case the party’s nominee is incapacitated or opts to step aside, and an anti-Biden coup at the convention is theoretically possible, if highly unlikely. So how would it work?
Biden has said he will remain in the race and there is no indication otherwise, but the only plausible scenario for Democrats to get a new nominee would be for Biden to decide to withdraw.
He could do so while serving out the remainder of his term in the White House, as Lyndon Johnson did in 1968.
If Biden were to drop out between now and August, it would most likely create a free-for-all at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.
If Biden calls it quits before he wins the majority of the Democratic delegates, it likely wouldn’t make a difference. Any new candidate who tried to enter the race would be unlikely to get on enough of the remaining ballots and therefore couldn’t win enough delegates.
Ultimately the decision would likely come down to the convention delegates who were initially pledged to Biden.
It takes a majority of the roughly 4,000 pledged delegates to win the party’s nomination. Under recent reforms, the party’s more than 700 superdelegates — Democratic lawmakers and dignitaries — are allowed to vote only if no one wins a majority of pledged delegates on the first ballot, so their votes could be crucial in a contested convention.
But it is, and they can’t hide it anymore.
It was an issue in 2020 too, but they could hide it. Flashback: The ‘cabal’ that bragged of foisting Joe Biden on us must answer for his failed presidency.