Democrats Release Statement After Biden Drops Out

Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

(FixThisNation.com) – The Democratic National Committee confirmed there wouldn’t be an automatic coronation for Biden’s replacement.

Soon after President Joe Biden’s announcement he’d be withdrawing from the race, Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Jaime Harrison revealed that “the party will undertake a transparent and orderly process to move forward.”

He noted the process would be “governed by” the party’s “established rules and procedures,” adding that Democrat delegates “are prepared to take seriously their responsibility” to select a candidate.

Harrison’s comment highlights that although Vice President Kamala Harris has prematurely emerged as the favorite, she wasn’t guaranteed the nomination. Furthermore, the party hadn’t revealed what Biden’s withdrawal meant for the nomination process.

What is certain is that for Harris to become the party’s nominee, she’d have to secure the nomination from roughly 4,700 Democratic convention delegates, including former Presidents, elected officials, and other party leaders known as superdelegates. According to reports, Harris spent Sunday calling delegates and elected officials to secure their support.

Biden — with Harris as his running mate — won Democratic primaries in every state. However, Democratic rules only state that delegates in “good conscience” vote for the candidate they were elected to represent without detailing a mechanism for defectors.

Some in the party have also called for an open nominating process, and discussions abound about how to proceed with the nomination process.

According to a source who spoke anonymously, Harris would benefit from a competitive mini-primary before the Democratic convention in Chicago, as this would help her secure her credentials as a strong candidate. The source argued doing that would also reduce criticism that Harris was undemocratically anointed, something the Trump campaign had already started doing.

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