Democrats have less than one week to decide whether they will go forward with a virtual roll call to elect Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee after President Biden’s campaign suspension.
Coronation or open convention?
Democrats have less than one week to decide whether they will proceed with a virtual roll call to elect Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee after President Biden’s campaign suspension just four months before the November election – but that hasn’t stopped them from taking their sweet time.
As late as Friday, the DNC rules committee was forging ahead with plans for a virtual roll call on Aug. 7 to avoid any legal challenges from Republicans on state ballot to nominate Biden as the nominee before the convention begins on Aug. 17.
The rules committee is next slated to meet on Wednesday – but their final decision isn’t due until Friday.
The remote call would mitigate issues coming from state ballot deadlines. Ohio’s state ballot deadline to name a nominee comes in the first week of August, and the convention will be too late to put Harris or another candidate on the ballot without legal risk.
Biden dropping out of the race on Sunday has raised questions on whether the virtual roll call will proceed in early August, as doing so would force Democrats to endorse Harris without an open convention at the DNC.
With a virtual roll call, delegates would not have the opportunity to openly contest Harris as the nominee at the convention.
In a Friday rules committee call before Biden’s drop-out, former White House counsel Dana Remus – who is advising the DNC on the legal issue – argued that a virtual roll call would be best to avoid litigation from the GOP.
