Growing faction of Democrats revolt against Biden’s upcoming virtual nomination

By Jeff Zeleny, MJ Lee, Manu Raju, Annie Grayer and Kayla Tausche, CNN

Washington (CNN) — A growing faction of House Democrats, convinced that President Joe Biden is too politically damaged to defeat Donald Trump in November, is calling on the Democratic National Committee to ditch plans to virtually nominate Biden in the coming weeks – setting up an extraordinary intraparty clash against Biden allies who are staging a quiet pressure campaign to accelerate the president’s formal nomination.

Democrats have been planning for weeks to conclude Biden’s nomination process before August 7 – well before the Chicago convention next month. But Rep. Jared Huffman, a progressive Democrat from California, told CNN on Tuesday that there is a “growing number of members” concerned about the virtual roll call vote, calling it a “terrible idea” and a “dumb thing.”

“If the election were held today, he would get crushed,” Huffman said of Biden. “We have got to do something about it.”

CNN has also learned from multiple sources of a draft letter circulating among House Democrats calling on the party to slow down the process – a clear sign of the party’s deep worries about Biden remaining at the top of their ticket.

The public and private airing of concerns come amid a push among some Biden allies to kick off Biden’s virtual roll call process as quickly as possible, according to six Democratic officials familiar with the discussions. Two key Democratic committees have long been set to gather this coming Friday and Sunday to discuss the exact timeline for delegates across the country to start casting their votes. The earliest that voting could begin would be after the second meeting on Sunday.

If voting were to begin Sunday or soon thereafter, that would mark an aggressive timeline – and the idea is already drawing fresh scrutiny from other Democrats eager for Biden to acknowledge his challenges and step aside.

“The disbelief that they’d expedite the nomination is as widespread as the recognition the DNC is leading Democrats into a house fire with water bottles,” one House Democrat said.

The DNC virtual roll call process was initially put in place for the party to step around an issue in Ohio that threatened to leave Biden off the ballot in that state. Lawmakers in Ohio have since passed a law to make that issue moot, but the DNC has pointed to the potential of a legal challenge by Ohio Republicans for moving forward with the virtual roll call anyway.

For Democrats who are afraid Biden will lose to Trump and take the Democratic ticket down with him, time is running out to make their case to the president, his family and a remarkably tight circle of advisers. But even as those entreaties are being made daily behind the scenes, plans are being made to solidify his standing with the help of party rules in the Democratic convention process.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison pushed back on any suggestion that attempts might be underway within the DNC to accelerate the virtual roll call.

“The timeline for the virtual roll call process remains on schedule and unchanged from when the DNC made that decision in May,” Harrison said in a statement, but did not elaborate on when he expects the roll call to begin.

CNN has also reached out to the Biden campaign about the effort.

An intraparty fight

The fiery discussions have opened a potentially messy and unseemly collision among different quarters of the Democratic Party that is playing out even as Republicans are rallying around their new ticket this week at the GOP convention in Milwaukee.

While a formal timetable has yet to be set, any appearance of party leaders stepping on the gas to push Biden’s nomination forward in the most expeditious way is sure to spark more anger – and a possible rebellion – given the grave concerns across the party about whether Biden should remain atop the Democratic ticket.

Among the party’s advocates of holding an early roll call, intense discussion continues over what the rules allow and how the party should proceed – whether lawmakers, donors, and prominent surrogates should be given more time to coalesce around their candidate, or whether the party should press ahead with an early nomination to avoid “a sh*tshow in August,” according to one source involved.

Amid the growing uproar over, three former heads of the DNC have weighed in to back the process, calling it the “wisest course.”

The letter, sent to members of the DNC’s Rules Committee on Tuesday and penned by former DNC chairs Donna Brazile, Howard Dean and Terry McAuliffe and obtained by CNN, says: “We believe that a virtual process—before the in-person Convention begins in Chicago on August 19, 2024—is necessary to ensure that the Democratic nominees for President and Vice President appear on the ballot in every state and in the District of Columbia without basis for legal challenge.”

The three ex-chairs go on to say that “a different approach risks disenfranchising millions of voters and clouding the Democratic path to victory.”

Notably, Brazile, Dean and McAuliffe said that the virtual roll call “need not be immediate” – but should finish before August 7 to not run into any potential legal issues related to Biden’s ability to get on the ballot in Ohio.

In an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt on Monday, Biden – asked whether he felt he had weathered the political storm following his disastrous debate performance last month – pointed to the primary voters who supported him.

“Fourteen million people voted for me to be the nominee in the Democratic Party. Okay? I listen to them,” he said.

Questions about whether Biden should continue seeking a second term that began to intensify after the June 27 CNN debate has shined a bright spotlight on the virtual roll call process – a process that prior to last month had drawn relatively scant attention. Now, with Biden’s political future up in the air, there is confusion and concern among some delegates about the Ohio law that prompted the DNC to move forward with a roll call before the Chicago convention in the first place.

In the wake of Biden’s halting debate performance, some Democrats discussed potentially delaying or canceling the July 21 meeting to allow the agitation to run its course.

But the DNC proceeding with the original plan in the face of recent events has piqued frustration across the Democratic Party, from lawmakers who want Biden to reconsider his candidacy to delegates who want to cast their vote in person, according to three sources with knowledge of the situation.

Meanwhile, some influential Democrats with close ties to the White House have publicly pinned the official start of the mid-August party convention as the deadline for Biden to decide whether he will proceed with his candidacy.

“If he decides to change his mind later on, then we would respond to that,” Rep. James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, said in a television interview last week. “We have until the 19th of August to open our convention.”

Some House Democrats want to slow the process down

A draft letter circulating among Democratic House members and other delegates is calling on the party to slow down the process, multiple sources told CNN.

“There is no legal justification for this extraordinary and unprecedented action which would effectively accelerate the nomination process by nearly a month,” the letter reads.

Behind the scenes, Democrats backing an early conclusion have floated the possibility that Sen. JD Vance, now officially nominated as Trump’s running mate and Republicans’ effective number two, could press for new challenges to Biden’s ballot access in his home state, a notion state officials roundly deny.

“The issue is resolved in Ohio, and Democrat proxies know that and should stop trying to scapegoat Ohio for their own party’s disfunction,” Ben Kindel, press secretary for Ohio secretary of state Frank LaRose, tells CNN.

The letter drafted by Huffman – who confirmed its authenticity and said it was unclear when they planned to send it out – agrees the issue is resolved.

“At this point there is no serious threat to the Democratic ticket nominated in regular order at next month’s DNC convention appearing on the ballot in Ohio or any other state,” the letter reads.

While the draft language is likely to change, it sets out the concerns in the party about moving forward with the nomination process while debate about Biden’s future is ongoing.

“The Democratic Party – not just elected officials and delegate, but also millions of grassroots voters – is currently engaged in careful consideration and debate about the absolute imperative of defeating Donald Trump and winning control of Congress,” the letter states. “As Democratic members of Congress, we represent the spectrum of views on this question. Some of us have called on President Biden to step aside, others have urged him to stay in the race, and still others have deep concerns about the status of the President’s campaign but have yet to take a position on what should happen.”

“All of us, however agree that stifling debate and prematurely shutting down any possible change in the Democratic ticket through an unnecessary and unprecedented ‘virtual rollcall’ in the days ahead is a terrible idea. It could deeply undermine the morale and unity of Democrats- from delegates, volunteers, grassroots organizers and donors to ordinary voters – at the worst possible time.”

‘We are hearing denial’

In a phone interview on Tuesday, Huffman said the members “cover the entire spectrum of our caucus” and that there would be a “pretty big” backlash if the DNC moves ahead with the plans.

Noting there’s a “major enthusiasm gap” between Trump and Biden, Huffman said: “You don’t achieve energy and enthusiasm by brute force,” referring to moving up the roll call vote to officially nominate Biden.

Huffman said he is not yet calling on Biden to be replaced but wants to give the president more time to instill Democrats with confidence in his campaign. It would be much harder to replace Biden once he’s formally the nominee.

“We are hearing denial and an attempt to shut down the discussion,” Huffman said.

In a recent press conference, Biden was asked whether party delegates would be free to vote for an alternative candidate at the convention if they desired.

“That’s the democratic process,” Biden said of the ability of delegates to change their mind, before adding confidently: “It’s not going to happen.”

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

CNN’s Haley Talbot and Lauren Fox contributed to this report.

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