We’re just four short, increasingly nerve-wracking months away from the 2024 presidential election, and the recent news of President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race has sent the Democratic Party into what could best be described as a frenzied state. Many established Democrats (including Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, California Governor Gavin Newsom and Biden himself) are throwing their weight behind Vice President Kamala Harris as a likely replacement candidate, but even if Harris does become the official nominee at the Democratic National Convention on August 19 (or sooner), the path forward is anything but clear. Below, find a guide to what we can expect to see play out in the U.S. political arena over the coming weeks.
How does a new Democratic candidate get nominated?
In order to win the Democratic nomination at the Democratic National Convention, any new prospective candidate must secure at least 300 delegates, with no more than 50 of those delegates coming from any one state. However, given the—to say the least—unusual nature of this weekend’s political news, the DNC’s rules committee will be holding a meeting on the topic of presidential nominee selection this week. (The meeting will be broadcast live on the DNC’s YouTube page starting at 2 p.m. EST on Wednesday, July 24, if you’re interested in getting an up-close look at the process.)
Is there a clear Democratic frontrunner for the presidential nomination?
As of Sunday night (mere hours after Biden announced he was dropping out of the race), Harris had already been endorsed by 531 delegates, but she’s just one of a host of potential candidates that have been floated to replace Biden; among them are Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, and Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer. (Whitmer announced on Monday that she would co-chair Harris’s campaign and has no current plans to leave Michigan.) Even if these candidates don’t enter the race at the top of the ticket, someone like Shapiro could shore up swing state support as a VP candidate.
Will Harris automatically get Biden’s delegates at the DNC?
No. Delegates at the DNC are simply asked to “in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them,” according to the official 2024 Democratic delegate rules. And while Biden’s endorsement of Harris will likely go a long way in affecting those sentiments, Harris still has to win over a majority of the delegates who have now been released from obligation to cast their votes for Biden.
Would Harris automatically be the nominee if Biden had resigned from the presidency, instead of simply ending his reelection campaign?
Well, yes! Not to find fault with democracy in action or anything, but…that would probably have been a lot easier, from a purely electoral-math perspective.