What happens if Joe Biden drops out of the presidential race? Wait, is Kamala Harris poised to be our first woman president? Okay, let’s hold our horses for a second.
Top Democrats continue to call on President Joe Biden, 81, to step down as the Democratic nominee for president following his disastrous performance in the first presidential debate on June 27. Some of these Democrats (Maryland representative Jamie Raskin, California representative Adam Schiff) have done so publicly. Others (Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Barack Obama) have reportedly done so in private. If Biden does decide to step down, the memes alone would have everyone believe that Vice President Kamala Harris would automatically take his place as the nominee. But it’s not that simple.
Here’s what happens if Joe Biden drops out of the race before the Democratic National Convention (DNC).
Though he is the incumbent, Joe Biden is not technically the Democratic nominee for president until he is confirmed by the delegates at the Democratic Convention, which is scheduled to begin on August 19 in Chicago, Illinois. (Fun fact: The last time Chicago hosted the DNC, in 1996, was also the last time there was a convention without a nominee already decided, called a brokered convention.) Every year, delegates representing their party from each state gather at the convention to formally nominate the person who won their state’s primary election. But if the person who won the primary steps down…
In that case, the 3,900 delegates would meet at the Convention to discuss who to nominate instead of Biden. If one person wins a majority of these delegates, that person becomes the nominee, per NBC News.
And there is good reason to believe that that person would be Kamala Harris. For one thing, per Axios, she has access to Biden’s $91 million “war chest” of campaign funds that would be more difficult to transfer to a nominee who is not part of the Biden Administration. Which brings us to another point: Harris, as part of the Biden Administration, can argue that primary voters already did vote for her as their second choice candidate by voting for her on the Biden-Harris ticket.
What if no one wins a majority of the 3,900 delegates at the Convention?
In that case, per NPR, the “superdelegates” join the original 3,900 delegates and all vote on a nominee until one person gets a majority. Rounds of voting will continue until there is one clear majority winner. These superdelegates might include governors, members of congress, and former presidents.
Could another candidate replace Biden after he’s declared the party’s nominee at the Convention?
For another candidate to replace him after the Convention, Biden would have to either die or resign his presidency immediately, making Vice President Kamala Harris the interim president. Then, Democratic leaders convene to recommend a replacement nominee, which the Democratic National Committee will then vote on.
If not Kamala Harris, then who?
Names being bandied about include several governors. California’s Gavin Newsom, Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois’s J.B. Pritzker, and Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro are all Democratic governors who have big DNC support.
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