How Biden could be replaced as the Democratic nominee – Washington Examiner

After Thursday’s faltering debate performance by President Joe Biden, some Democrats are starting to talk about what it would take to replace him as their nominee in November.

The party convention does have an avenue for nominating a new candidate, but it’s a convoluted process that hasn’t been considered nor used in decades. Biden, however, would need to step down for that to happen.

In the immediate post-debate analysis, many political commentators began reporting fears from Democratic leadership about Biden’s debate performance. 

“There is a sense of shock at how he came out at the beginning of this debate. How his voice sounded. He seemed a little disoriented,” David Axelrod, who was a top White House and campaign official for former President Barack Obama, said on CNN. “There are going to be discussions about whether he should continue.”

Most Democrats have continued to back the president, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA). Other Democrats whose names have been thrown around in the fallout of Biden’s performance in the debate span a wide range of political ideologies and demographics, which could prove risky as no Democrat has been vetted in the national spotlight like Biden has.

If Biden agrees to step down, it will open the convention floor to an unpredictable nomination process. 

The primary season has been anything but competitive for the presidential ticket this election cycle. Biden holds 95% of the support of nearly 4,000 delegates who have pledged to vote for the president at the Democratic National Convention. While there is no legal rule requiring them to vote for Biden, more than 50% of them would need to turn on the president to halt him from receiving the nomination.

Reforms to the Democratic National Convention after 2016 have made it so the 700 superdelegates, composed of Democratic lawmakers and dignitaries, are now only allowed to vote if no one wins a majority of pledged delegates on the first ballot. In a contested convention, their votes become crucial.

While the convention isn’t until August, Democrats had planned to nominate Biden virtually before the convention due to concerns about ballot access in Ohio. Biden was at risk of not appearing on ballots in Ohio as the Buckeye State’s deadline for candidates to qualify for ballot access fell before the Democratic National Convention.

If Biden does not step down, it is unlikely mass swaths of Democratic delegates would vote against the man they were sent to Chicago to vote for. Nevertheless, the Democratic National Convention differs from the Republican National Convention in that delegates can switch their vote if done “in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.” 

There are provisions to replace the nominee in the event of a vacancy. However, that is meant to be used in the event of a person’s death or incapacitation, not because a nominee has refused to step down.

But it’s not clear Biden has any intention of stepping away. Immediately after his performance last night, the president walked onto a stage with his wife to chants of “four more years!”

“We’re going to beat this guy. We need to beat this guy,” Biden told that crowd after exiting the audience-less debate room. “And I need you to beat him.”

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Biden and his campaign have repeatedly shaken off hiccups in his reelection campaign, and many Democratic political commentators talked about Biden’s “pride,” which may make it difficult for him to step down.

Former President Lyndon Johnson finished his term in the White House in 1968, even after withdrawing from the nomination that year.