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The Democratic National Committee is considering whether to formally nominate President Joe Biden as the party’s 2024 presidential candidate in July, nearly a month ahead of the party’s formal convention, to ensure he gets on the ballot in every state, according to a report on Monday.
Bloomberg News noted that the DNC may nominate Biden by mid-July as a way of tamping down talk of replacing him on the ticket after his dismal debate performance against former President Donald Trump on Thursday.
According to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, a potential date for Biden’s nomination is July 21, when the Democratic convention’s credentials committee meets virtually. Democrats had initially planned to nominate the 81-year-old Biden before their August convention to ensure his appearance on the ballot in Ohio, which has a deadline of August 7 for candidates to be certified.
A new Ohio law has pushed that date back to 65 days before the election. The Democratic convention panel is meeting this month to finalize procedures before the party’s convention in Chicago, starting on Aug. 19.
The party disputed allegations that it was considering moving up the nomination because of Biden’s horrific debate display, where he appeared vacant, had trouble speaking, and was often unable to make truthful responses.
“We’ve said for weeks that the DNC would hold a virtual roll call in the lead-up to our in-person convention as a result of the OH GOP’s bad-faith attempts to keep Joe Biden off of their general election ballot,” Democratic National Committee communications director Rosemary Boeglin said in a statement.
Bloomberg added: “The move to virtually nominate Biden before the convention ensures that Biden is on state ballots, but the timing is fortuitous. It allows the party to further coalesce around their nominee, even as insiders call for him to step aside for a new candidate after his rocky June 27 debate performance.”
Republican National Committee Co-Chairwoman Lara Trump, meanwhile, argued on Sunday that the Democrats will not be able to improve their odds of winning the presidential election, regardless of whether they keep Biden as their nominee.
The discussion about replacing Biden as the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nominee has significantly intensified following the first presidential debate. Many people felt that Biden delivered a poor performance compared to former President Donald Trump. In response to her father-in-law’s debate performance, Lara Trump claimed that it was the best of his political career and convinced voters to choose him over Biden.
“Donald Trump is the only way we get this country back, and I believe it doesn’t matter if it’s Joe Biden and Kamala Harris or, quite frankly, anyone else they put in there,” Lara Trump said on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.” “We had four years of Donald Trump. We know how secure our borders were. We know how much more money people had in their pockets, how much cheaper it was to go buy gas, how much safer we felt on the world stage when Donald Trump was there. And people want him back in office.”
Lara Trump firmly warned against Democrats even considering anyone other than Vice President Kamala Harris as a replacement for Biden, stating that it would constitute a major assault on the democratic process. Some names floated as replacements for Biden include former first lady Michelle Obama, as well as Governors Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and Gretchen Whitmer (MI), the Washington Examiner reported.
A leading liberal newspaper in the South has called for Biden to drop out of the race after his weak performance. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial board’s op-ed is the most recent in a chorus of voices supporting Democrats who are trying to persuade Biden to withdraw from the race right away.
The New York Times board made a similar recommendation.
