A new effort is reportedly underway among Democrats to delay the Democratic presidential nomination process for President Joe Biden, the latest move within the Democratic Party to reconsider Biden as the party’s nominee after his disastrous debate performance at the end of June.
The New York Times first reported the letter, which was reportedly written by Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., and is being sent around to Democrats for their signature.
Normally, delegates formally select their candidate at the convention, but the Democratic National Committee has been pushing a plan to speed up the nomination even as many members of the party call for Biden to step aside.
The letter calls out the Democratic Party’s plan to have a virtual roll call weeks before the convention, which would speed up the nomination process and help Biden avoid being removed as the nominee.
“There is no legal justification for this extraordinary and unprecedented action which would effectively accelerate the nomination process by nearly a month,” the letter said.
“Proceeding with the ‘virtual roll call’; in the absence of a valid legal rationale will be rightly perceived as a purely political maneuver, which we believe would be counterproductive and undermine party unity and cohesion,” the letter adds. “Moreover, it would contradict what President Biden himself has repeatedly said to members of Congress in recent days, telling us that anyone who wants to challenge his nomination should do so ‘at the convention.’”
Biden stumbled and fumbled through his first debate against Trump weeks ago, leading several elected Democrats and party insiders to publicly call for him to step aside to let another Democrat take on former President Donald Trump, who is leading Biden in the polls.
So far, Biden has remained defiant, refusing to step down and telling his opponents that the answer is no.
Whether the letter will gain steam remains to be seen. If it does, it will be yet another blow to the struggling Biden campaign. It also is a striking opportunity for Democrats to go on the record pushing back against the incumbent president.
A majority of Democratic signatures could be devastating for the campaign.
For now, Axios has reported that at least a few members will sign, namely Reps. Mike Levin, D-Calif., Susan Wild, D-Penn., and Mike Quigley, D-Ill.
“As Democratic members of Congress, we represent the spectrum of views on this question,” the letter said. “Some of us have called on President Biden to step aside, others have urged him to stay in the race, and still others have deep concerns about the status of the President’s campaign but have yet to take a position on what should happen. All of us, however, agree that stifling debate and prematurely shutting down any possible change in the Democratic ticket through an unnecessary and unprecedented ‘virtual roll call’ in the days ahead is a terrible idea.”
