The Democratic National Committee’s decision to move forward with its plans to nominate President Joe Biden through a virtual roll call ahead of the party’s August convention in Chicago is making some of the party’s own delegates uneasy.
Some delegates, such as David Seaton-Lorenz, a 19-year-old Democratic National Committee delegate from Massachusetts, are calling on the DNC to ditch the virtual nomination plan altogether ahead of the convention, as Democrats continue to discuss internally whether the president should seek a second term.
“I do not support the DNC’s plan — we should not be preventing the delegates from having their voices be heard,” Seaton-Lorenz said. “This process of even having this vote before the convention is preventing our concerns from being heard and silencing our voices.”
He added, “I find it offensive, as people who are just trying to have a conversation.”
Seaton-Lorenz is not alone; a handful of DNC delegates relayed similar concerns to the Washington Examiner, convinced Biden has already been too politically damaged to defeat former President Donald Trump in November.
“Look, I completely get Biden had a bad night during the debate, and I could personally look past it. However, the polling numbers are particularly alarming and tell a different story,” a DNC delegate said from Arizona, speaking on the condition of anonymity in an effort to reflect candidly on the situation. “Trump looks like he is going to smoke Biden in Arizona and I do worry that could have implications for others like [Democratic Senate candidate Ruben] Gallego.”
“Any effort to push through Biden’s nomination without giving the party the chance to discuss this is beyond corrupt. We should be doing this all in person,” the person added.
The DNC has been adamant it plans to move forward with its virtual roll call, revealing in a letter on Wednesday sent to committee members that the party plans to do so in August.
The letter, which was obtained by the Washington Examiner, makes it clear that the DNC is doubling down on its plan, and sets up a deadline of Aug. 7, which was originally Ohio’s filing deadline that threatened to keep Biden off the 2024 ballot before state leaders extended the deadline. The latest update pushes back a plan to hold the digital roll call in July after internal lobbying.
“If I told you I wasn’t concerned about the choice we are about to make, I’d be lying,” said a DNC delegate from Iowa who also requested anonymity. “If we push this through without having enough time to really understand the implications, our convention is going to be a glorified funeral,” the person said.
Typically, the roll call vote would take place during the convention in Chicago next month. The delay in the initial plan signals an acknowledgment of the ongoing controversy surrounding the DNC’s plan to move forward with the virtual roll call process and comes after lobbying from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), according to reporting from various outlets.
“None of this will be rushed. Unlike our nation’s other major political party, our rules are set in public meetings, anchored in the Party’s charter and its traditions. That will continue in the 2024 cycle, as it must with so much at stake,” Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and Leah Daughtry, who lead the rules committee, write in the letter.
Days after the attempt to assassinate Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania, several delegates expressed concerns that the Republican presidential nominee is emerging stronger than ever.
“I wish this wasn’t the case, but after the unfortunate events that happened over the weekend with Trump, the momentum is on his side. We are fortunate this wasn’t an October surprise and we may be able to do something before it’s too late,” the Iowa delegate said.
Roughly two-thirds of Democratic voters say President Joe Biden should withdraw from the race and let the party tap a new nominee, according to a recent poll by the Associated Press.
The poll also found that only three in 10 Democrats were “extremely” or “very” confident that Biden has the mental capacity to carry out a second term, down from the 40% who said the same in February.
“As one of the country’s youngest delegates, I have real concerns about Biden’s ability to appeal to young people,” Seaton-Lorenz said.
Some lawmakers have been sounding the alarm, calling on the DNC to drop the virtual roll call vote planned in the coming weeks to elect Biden as the party’s nominee. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), the first House member to call on Biden to step aside, has been applying pressure and voiced his concerns on Wednesday morning.
“Fast-forwarding the nomination process is no way to convince the many unconvinced voters in the growing number of battleground states,” Doggett said in a statement on Wednesday. “Those so eager to overly protect President Biden ignore his own words inviting anyone questioning his nomination to do so at the Convention.”
Earlier in the week, at least 30 House Democrats began circulating a draft letter, calling on the party to slow down the process. After the DNC pushed back the virtual roll call vote a bit, that letter has been put on hold, according to a source familiar, although some members are also adamant that the vote should not take place until the convention.
“We’re glad to see that the pressure has worked and the DNC will not rush this virtual process through in July. We won’t be sending the letter at this time,” a spokeswoman for Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), who had been playing a part in the draft letter, said.
The DNC is set to meet on Friday to begin consideration of its party platform and how to proceed with holding its convention next month. DNC officials emphasized that the committee was not planning to hold the roll call vote at that time.
“This meeting was scheduled for many months, the one on Friday, and it was never meant to be the virtual roll call,” Walz, co-chairman of the DNC rules committee, told the Washington Examiner. “It will be setting out the agenda as the rules committee moving forward.”
Joanne Chesley, a first-time delegate from North Carolina, supports the DNC’s plan to move ahead with the plan to nominate Biden virtually in the coming weeks, reiterating that it would be best for the party to unite around the ticket as soon as possible.
“My hope is that, you know, we will come together around the ticket that we currently have before we get to the convention,” Chesley said. “I think, just given the fact that we spent almost the last three weeks now, asking that question about whether Biden should stay at the top of the ticket or not, we are having the discussion that is necessary.
“I think it is okay that we are still debating this, but I would like to have a decisive point of view in the next couple of weeks,” she added.
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Seaton-Lorenz also thinks the debate at the top of the ticket should be ongoing, even though much of it has been significantly quieter in the aftermath of the assassination attempt. The Massachusetts delegate reiterated he intends to support Biden if he is the candidate that is ultimately nominated, but wants to see a robust debate within the party before that happens.
“This conversation is more important than ever. I know the news cycle has a tendency to move on, but we have to keep talking about this,” he said. “A few days ago I heard someone else say this is a death march to November. I hope that’s not the case, but I fear it might be.”
