President Joe Biden announced today that he is withdrawing his candidacy and will no longer seek a second term.
This comes after fellow Democrats, including Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, pushed for Biden to reconsider the 2024 presidential race.
Biden has been the presumptive nominee for months after easily winning almost every primary election in a mostly uncontested race. But he was never officially nominated since that process happens in August.
In his announcement, Biden said current Vice President Kamala Harris has his "full support and endorsement." Some people are wondering if she will automatically become the party's nominee.
THE QUESTION
Will Vice President Kamala Harris automatically replace Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee?
THE SOURCES
- Democratic Party rules
- Various state laws
- U.S. Supreme Court
- Elaine Karmack, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
THE ANSWER
No, Harris will not automatically replace Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee.
WHAT WE FOUND
Vice President Kamala Harris isn’t guaranteed to replace Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee now that he’s dropped out of the race. That’s because party rules allow the Democratic Party to pick another candidate.
The presidential nominee is decided by delegates at the Democratic National Convention. Delegates are assigned to vote for a candidate based on the results of their state’s primary election.
In most cases, people who are chosen to be delegates are active party members, leaders, or early supporters of one of the candidates.
Democratic Party rules say, “Delegates elected to the national convention, pledged to a presidential candidate, shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.”
Some states also have their own laws about what delegates can and cannot do. But the Supreme Court has ruled that at party conventions, party rules take precedence over state laws. In other words, states can’t tell political parties how to pick their nominee.
The phrase “in all good conscience” in the Democratic Party rules leaves room for delegates to vote for someone else if their candidate is no longer an option, Elaine Kamarck, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, explained.
And, if that candidate drops out of the race, there’s no other rule that says delegates would automatically be bound to choosing a specific person to replace them. That’s why Harris will not automatically become the Democratic presidential nominee.
So what happens instead?
All of the nearly 4,000 Biden delegates are allowed to cast their votes for anyone they want. This process is known as a brokered convention and it’s how nominees were decided until presidential primaries became the norm.
If no candidate has a majority after the first round of voting, party elders called “superdelegates” are allowed to participate in the next round.
The delegates continue to vote until someone wins a majority and becomes the next presidential nominee.
Though delegates are free to vote for any candidate, many in states across the U.S. have already expressed their support for Harris. By Monday, July 22, Harris had the support of over 2,800 delegates – well over the 1,976 she will need to win on a first ballot, according to an Associated Press survey.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story is also available in Spanish / Lee este artículo también en español: No, Kamala Harris no reemplazará automáticamente a Biden como nominada presidencial
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