President Joe Biden appears safe as the Democratic presidential nominee — at least for now. The Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Hispanic Caucus, two of the most powerful groups on Capitol Hill, announced they still support him.
However, there are a growing number of lawmakers who have stated publicly that Biden should drop out before the Democratic National Convention (DNC). If he does, he could release his delegates from their obligation to support him and the party would have an open convention.
However, some prominent Democrats want to make sure left-leaning voters have their say, not just party leaders. Here are a few suggestions:
Democratic presidential consultant James Carville said it’s only a matter of time before Biden drops out. He wrote in a New York Times op-ed, “The jig is up, and the sooner Mr. Biden and Democratic leaders accept this, the better.”
Carville proposed that former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton host four town halls between now and the DNC in August. He suggested the former presidents choose eight candidates to participate, including Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Town halls will give Americans a fresh look at Ms. Harris and introduce them to our deep bench of smart, dynamic, tested leaders,” Carville wrote. “In addition, Democratic delegates will get to further grill and stress-test these leaders in public and private meetings before a formal vote of all the delegates at the Democratic convention.”
Comedian Jon Stewart suggested an open convention with a twist, and criticized those who said there isn’t enough time.
“119 days,” Stewart said on “The Daily Show,” Monday, July 8. “There are contestants on ‘The Bachelor‘ who will get married and divorced between now and the election. We have nothing but time.”
Stewart said candidates who want to challenge Biden should be able to make their case the first day of the convention in Chicago.
The winners of round one would go head-to-head against Biden on Tuesday, Aug. 20. The party can have a day to think about it on Wednesday, Aug. 21, and it will have its nominee on Thursday, Aug. 22, which is when Biden is currently scheduled to accept the nomination anyway.
“You could televise the whole thing,” Stewart said. “You could call it, I don’t know, ‘The Apprentice.’”
The reality is, if Biden doesn’t step down on his own, it’s highly unlikely he could be replaced.
The Democratic Party’s rules state, “All delegates to the National Convention pledged to a presidential candidate shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.”
Technically, some could say they couldn’t vote for Biden in good conscience. However, Biden has 3,894 pledged delegates and needs 1,968 at the convention to officially become the nominee, so nearly 2,000 would need to defect.
