Biden to become Democratic nominee within weeks via virtual vote, despite turmoil

By Jarrett Renshaw and Stephanie Kelly, Reuters

US President Joe Biden is on track to receive the official 2024 presidential nomination from fellow Democrats for a second term in a virtual vote in late July ahead of the party's national convention, despite calls for him to step aside, four people involved in the process told Reuters.

Democrats and Republicans typically use their national conventions to nominate their candidates officially, but Biden will be nominated weeks before his party gathers for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on 19 August - a plan that was announced long before Biden's shaky 27 June debate.

But exactly how the early process would work was unclear, the state party officials and national Democrats interviewed for this story said.

The virtual vote is a "terrible idea", said Aaron Regunberg, a member of the steering committee for Democratic group Pass the Torch, adding that this would "deeply undermine the morale of Democrats - delegates, volunteers, grassroots organisers, donors and ordinary voters - at the worst possible time."

What about calls to unseat Biden?

Biden, 81, is under continued pressure and scrutiny from some lawmakers, donors and activists to drop his reelection campaign in the wake of his disastrous presidential debate performance, which renewed questions about his mental fitness.

Biden campaign officials said they expected that Saturday's assassination attempt on Republican rival Donald Trump would lower the pressure on Biden to step aside.

Biden has repeatedly insisted he is not going anywhere and says he is best equipped to beat Trump.

Pushing forward with what senior Democrats have described as a "virtual roll call" could speed up Biden's nomination and stave off potential challengers to his candidacy. But confusion surrounding the virtual process reflects the chaos within the party as senior leaders focus on salvaging Biden's candidacy, sources said.

There does not appear to be any well-defined push to rally delegates around any other candidate ahead of the virtual vote.

Why was early nomination planned?

The early virtual nomination was originally 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 7 August, prior to the convention in Chicago.

However, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on 2 June signed a bill extending the deadline to 31 August, meaning official nomination at the Democratic convention would still comply with Ohio law.

An online or virtual vote means no chance of a live convention floor battle in Chicago that could embarrass Biden and throw the campaign into chaos.

How will it work?

Many of the details will be determined on 19 and 21 July when the party's convention rules and credentials committees meet, respectively.

Any virtual nomination process was likely to happen within days of those meetings, officials said.

Some officials with the Democratic National Committee and the Biden campaign said they expected delegates to participate in something similar to 2020, when the Covid pandemic forced the party to hold a virtual roll call that featured state officials backing Biden against the video backdrop of American landscapes.

Others said the early nomination process would be much less dramatic, with delegates filling out online voting forms.

Either way, Democrats plan to do a traditional roll call at the August convention with a mix of pre-recorded messages and live action, even though the formal nomination will have already taken place.

Who decides?

In 2024, there will be an estimated 4532 delegates at the Democratic convention, including 3788 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 - or roughly 1895 - of the pledged delegates in the first roll call. If not, the superdelegates - who are free to vote for whomever they like - will join and help decide in the second roll call.

During the party's primary election, where Biden faced no serious opposition, he secured the support of some 3900 delegates, significantly more than needed.

Pledged delegates are expected to support Biden but there are differing opinions on whether they are bound to support him.

Democratic National Committee officials have been making calls to delegates in recent days to identify any potential problems, officials told Reuters.

The delegates are expected to be given three options: support Biden, uncommitted or leave blank, according to party officials. All the delegates Reuters spoke to said they plan to support Biden.

On Thursday, Biden was asked about concerns that delegates will defect.

"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?

If Biden steps down after the official nomination, the 435 members of the DNC would choose a new candidate in a special session.

The members are divided roughly equally between men and women as well as various constituency groups including labour 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