Why the Democratic party still wants to formally select a presidential nominee
The Democratic National Committee is prepared to finalize a virtual roll call, in which delegates will be asked to select a presidential nominee before next month's convention in Chicago.
Although Vice President Kamala Harris is favored to replace President Joe Biden, the convention rules committee will meet today, Wednesday, to approve the virtual roll call.
The DNC Chair Jaime Harrison says the process will be completed by August 7th, which is a hurried 12 days before the Democratic party’s convention. The date is important because it is the original deadline to qualify for the presidential ballot in Ohio, a key swing state.
“If you are a duly, legal, qualified person to run for president, you have to file a formal declaration of candidacy and you have to secure 300 delegate signatures in order to get on the ballot,” Harrison said in a conversation with NPR’s Michel Martin. “That's the same thing you would have to do if we were live and in person on the floor in Chicago.”
The virtual roll call was planned and announced in May well before President Biden dropped out of the race.
“It's open, it's transparent. That is the process that we've always had on the books,” Harrison said.
Harrison spoke about how Biden’s withdrawal does not change the Democratic National Committee's plan nor formal process to select a presidential nominee.
The following excerpt has been lightly edited for clarity.
HIGHLIGHTS
Michel Martin: Why is this still necessary?
Jaime Harrison: Well, if you take a look at the Ohio law, instead of making the change effective immediately, they decided not to do that. The law does not become effective until September one. So in essence, from August seven to September one, we would be in noncompliance. And we've just heard recently from Speaker Johnson, who has said that they are getting ready, the MAGA Republicans, to sue the DNC on these issues of ballot access. So we don't want to disenfranchise the Democratic voters in Ohio. We don't want to complicate their process. We don't want to be caught in courtrooms with MAGA judges not knowing what the end result is going to be. And that's why we decided to move up our process back in May, because we're not playing those games. We're going to be on the ballot in all 50 states. We're not leaving it up to chance or MAGA Republicans to make that determination.
Martin: No major Democrat has come out to challenge Vice President Kamala Harris for the nomination. But the fact that the DNC has coalesced around her so quickly has already become a GOP talking point. And even some Democrats are raising concerns like Representative Maxwell Frost of Florida, for example, said the process wasn't open. There was the suggestion to hold some kind of mini primary, so it's a more competitive process. Is that a possibility? Why not do that?
Harrison: Well, we're using a process that's within our rules. In essence, even if we were to do a floor vote at the convention, these are the exact same steps we would take. The only difference is there's a virtual vote instead of being on the floor vote. So folks have to get a certain threshold.
Martin: Are you worried at all that this could set a precedent that discourages voters from participating in primaries in the future? Because that generally is how you build excitement, momentum and a mandate for the candidate. Do you have any worries about that?
Harrison: Well, Michel, we went through the primary process, but at this point, we don't have time to go back to 50 states, D.C., the territories, and just start that process all over again. And as you know, elections are run and conducted in states, but by the election commissions in those states. It is a pricey pricey process and it takes a long time in order to pull all of those things together. We don't have that timeframe at this point. But 14 million people have already voted and many of them voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in this process. And now it moves to the next phase, which is because of those votes, they had delegates in those states that will now help us move this nomination process through.
Treye Green edited the digital story.
Transcript
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The Democratic National Committee's rules group meets today to finalize the process for a virtual roll call to be held August 7, which is just two weeks from today. Delegates will be asked to select a nominee before next month's convention in Chicago, but how come? What's the rush? Let's ask DNC Chair Jaime Harrison. He is with us now. Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Thanks for joining us.
JAIME HARRISON: Thank you so much for having me. Good morning to you.
MARTIN: So I understand that this virtual roll call was the DNC's plan before Biden dropped out of the race, and it's my understanding that the online roll call was originally planned to meet an August 7 deadline to be eligible for the Ohio ballot, but lawmakers moved that deadline back to September 1, so why is this still necessary?
HARRISON: Well, if you take a look at the Ohio law, instead of making the change effective immediately, they decided not to do that. The law does not become effective until September 1, so in essence, from August 7 to September 1, we would be in noncompliance. And we've just heard recently from Speaker Johnson, who has said that they are getting ready, the MAGA Republicans, to sue the DNC on these issues of ballot access, so we don't want to disenfranchise the Democratic voters in Ohio. We don't want to complicate their process. We don't want to be caught in courtrooms with MAGA judges, not knowing what the end result is going to be, and that's why we decided to move up our process back in May, because we're not playing those games. We're going to be on the ballot in all 50 states. We're not leaving it up to chance or MAGA Republicans to make that determination.
MARTIN: OK, so you feel like it's sort of legally ambiguous, and this is sort of to forestall any problems, but, of course, you know why I'm asking. I mean no major Democrat has come out to challenge Vice President Kamala Harris for the nomination, but the fact that the DNC has coalesced around her so quickly has already become a GOP talking point, and even some Democrats are raising concerns. Like, Representative Maxwell Frost of Florida, for example, said the process wasn't open. There was a suggestion to hold some kind of mini primary, so it's a more competitive process. Is that a possibility? Why not do that?
HARRISON: Well, we're using a process that's within our rules. In essence, even if we were to do a floor vote at the convention, these are the exact same steps we would take. The only difference is there's a virtual vote instead of being on-the-floor vote. So folks have to get a certain threshold, so Step 1 is today, where the rules committee will establish the rules and the process. Step 2 happens in terms of if you are a duly legal, qualified person to run for president, you have to file a formal declaration of candidacy, and you have to secure 300 delegate signatures in order to get on the ballot. That's the same thing you would have to do if we were live and in person on the floor in Chicago, and so it's open. It's transparent. That is the process that we've always had in the books and that we've always utilized, and now people just have to meet that threshold.
MARTIN: Are you worried at all that this could set a precedent that discourages voters from participating in primaries in the future because that generally is how you build excitement, momentum, and - I don't know what you would call it - a mandate for the candidate? Do you have any worries about that?
HARRISON: Well, Michel, we went through the primary process, but at this point, we don't have time to go back to 50 states, D.C, the territories and to start that process all over again, and, as you know, elections are run and conducted in states by the election commissions in those states.
MARTIN: Yeah.
HARRISON: It is a pricey, pricey process, and it takes a long time in order to pull all of those things together. We don't have that time frame at this point, but 14 million people have already voted, and many of them voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in this process, and now it moves to the next phase, which is, because of those votes...
MARTIN: OK.
HARRISON: ...They have delegates in those states that will now help us move this nomination process forward.
MARTIN: OK. Before we let you go, I just wanted to know what's on your mind right now. Like, what's keeping you up at night? So much has happened in the last couple of days. I mean, there was an assassination attempt on the former president, and we know that the current president, Joe Biden, was on the shooter's kind of list of things that he was kind of thinking about and all the change at the top. Like, what's on your mind?
HARRISON: No, you know, it's an unsettling time as it relates to the political violence that we see, and we as a country need to come together to make sure that we stop that, but our No. 1 goal is to make sure that we educate people about Project 2025 and Donald Trump's disastrous attempts to rip away the freedoms of the American people.
MARTIN: All right. That is Jaime Harrison. He's the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Mr. Chairman, thanks for joining us once again.
HARRISON: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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