House Democrats halt letter to DNC over virtual roll call to nominate Biden

House Democrats are pulling a letter to the Democratic National Committee that argued against a virtual roll call to select President Joe Biden as the official party presidential nominee.

The decision to halt the letter comes after the committee announced it would not hold a roll call to nominate Biden until August. An exact date is not set, but officials have said after Aug. 1 and before Aug. 7.

“We’re glad to see that the pressure has worked and the DNC will not rush this virtual process through in July,” a spokesperson for Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “We won’t be sending the letter at this time.”

News that Democrats were circulating a letter broke Tuesday, and several Democrats had said they planned to sign on to the note asking the DNC to reconsider the use of a virtual roll call to nominate Biden weeks ahead of the Democratic National Convention.

A spokesperson for Huffman’s office had told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday that the letter was circulating but that the congressman was not leading the effort.

”Rep. Huffman and other members are very concerned with this extraordinary attempt to speed up the nomination and do not think brute force is the way to achieve unity and enthusiasm,” a spokesperson for Huffman said Tuesday.

Aug. 7 was originally Ohio’s filing deadline, which threatened to keep Biden off the 2024 ballot before it was extended by state leaders. Democrats have argued that because of this legislative change, the virtual roll call was no longer necessary.

“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 reads. “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.’”

The Democratic National Committee will meet Friday to propose a framework for “how best to proceed” with the party’s convention, according to the letter. The committee will then reconvene next week to “consider and adopt specific rules for that purpose.”

The letter to committee members appears to quell speculation within the Democratic Party that the committee hoped to quickly nominate Biden and avoid any further debate on his candidacy. So far, 20 congressional Democrats, 19 representatives and one senator, have called on Biden to withdraw from the race amid worries that the president is not a strong enough candidate to defeat former President Donald Trump in November.

Huffman’s fellow Californian, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), became the latest House Democrat to call on Biden to suspend his campaign on Wednesday.

Schiff said the “choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone,” but the congressman said he believes it is time for Biden “to pass the torch” and “secure his legacy of leadership” by allowing another Democrat to step forward and beat Trump.