By Sophia Bollag,Politics Reporter, Sacramento
Updated July 21, 2024 4:40 p.m. (SFChronicle.com)
The logo for the Democratic National Convention is displayed on the scoreboard at the United Center during a media walkthrough on Jan. 18 in Chicago. The convention is scheduled to be held in Chicago from Aug. 19-22. Scott Olson/Getty Images
Democrats are in uncharted territory.
President Joe Biden’s announcement Sunday that he will drop out of the presidential race means the party, for the first time since it reformed its nominating process in 1972, will decide its nominee not through the primary election process, but through a vote of party delegates.
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Delegates always vote to select the party’s nominee, but since the 1970s that has been essentially a formality, with pledged delegates bound to vote for specific candidates based on their primary election wins. That process typically takes place at the Democratic National Convention, though the party had planned to do a virtual nominating process in early August ahead of the convention to ensure Biden would be on ballots in Ohio, which had an early deadline that has since been changed.
Biden’s decision means that his 3,896 pledged delegates are technically free to vote for the candidate of their choice.
Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the nomination shortly after announcing that he would drop out of the race.
“Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year,” the president wrote on X.
Rusty Hicks, chair of the California Democratic Party, said party leaders are still working to determine how exactly the convention will work now that Biden has stepped down from his campaign. He said that in the end, he’s confident Harris will win the nomination. But he suggested it wouldn’t just be handed to her.
“She’s got some work to do. As she said, she’s going to earn this and win this on her own,” he said. “There may be others who want to put their name forward and seek the nomination, and they’re within their right to do that.”
It wasn’t immediately clear if any top Democrats would challenge Harris. Biden’s delegates are not obligated to vote for her, and while she is the top contender to replace him, other candidates could emerge. Candidates from states with large delegations, such as California, Texas or Illinois, could theoretically have an advantage.
Some of the top contenders to potentially replace Biden have said they are not interested. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he would not challenge Harris, a fellow Californian who came up through San Francisco politics. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she would not be a candidate even if Biden exited the race.
Candidates must gather 300 delegate signatures to be considered. To win the nomination, a candidate must win the votes of a majority of delegates.
In the first round of voting, only the pledged delegates will vote. If no one wins a majority in the first round, voting goes to the second ballot, where unpledged superdelegates can vote. The voting would continue until a candidate wins a majority.
The party’s national convention begins Aug. 19 in Chicago.
Shay Franco-Clausen, a delegate from the Bay Area, said she thinks Biden did the right thing by stepping down and endorsing Harris. She said she “100%” plans to cast her vote in support of the vice president at the convention next month.
“I think Kamala can energize people,” she said.
She said party leaders are currently meeting to hammer out the details of how the convention will work now that Biden has stepped down.
Steve Maviglio, a longtime Democratic strategist who will serve as an alternate delegate at the convention, said on Friday before Biden’s announcement that he would be inclined to vote for Harris should the president drop out.
“As a delegate I’ll be taking my direction from the Biden forces on what we should be doing,” Maviglio said. “I don’t think the people who took the time to vote should be ignored.”
But he cautioned that Biden’s endorsement wouldn’t guarantee that the transition from Biden to Harris as the top candidate will be seamless.
“Anybody who thinks it’s just going to be like a handoff at a football game is mistaken,” he said. “The potential for a fumble is substantial.”
Garry South, also a longtime Democratic strategist, said Friday that if Biden dropped out, he expected the party to quickly unite around Harris.
“She has to be honored and respected for being the first female vice president and the first Black vice president,” he said. “There would be hell to pay for women voters and Black voters, who happen to constitute the base of the Democratic Party.”
He said he did not anticipate a chaotic convention.
“Democrats understand the dire situation that we’re in, and I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of monkey business at the convention,” he said. “Democrats have learned their lesson from having messy conventions.”
Reach Sophia Bollag: Sophia.Bollag@sfchronicle.com
July 21, 2024
POLITICS REPORTER, SACRAMENTO
Sophia Bollag joined the San Francisco Chronicle as a politics reporter in 2022. She has covered state government from Sacramento since 2016 and has worked at The Sacramento Bee, The Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times. She grew up in the East Bay and graduated from Northwestern University, where she studied journalism and literature.
