Democrats plan last-ditch effort to block Biden’s candidacy

Dozens of House Democrats are organizing a plan to speak out against their own party’s push to secure President Joe Biden’s nomination earlier than originally planned, which they say stifles the intense ongoing debate over his candidacy, according to a lawmaker involved in the effort.

A drafted letter, circulated by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and obtained by POLITICO, offers the first public sign from Democrats since the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump over the weekend that dozens of their own members remain deeply unsure about the future of Biden’s candidacy.

“It’s a very bad move by the DNC. Some people think it’s a clever way to block debate and, I guess, by sheer force of force, achieve unity, but it doesn’t work that way,” Huffman said in an interview. He declined to confirm the existence of a letter.

The letter from this group of Democrats does not specifically call for Biden to leave the race — and in fact, it specifically states that it represents a “spectrum” of views. Still, many Democrats who have been privately pleading with more of their colleagues to call on Biden to end his campaign saw this as a potentially decisive moment after weeks of mostly private discussions about the party’s dilemma.

The push for a new nominee — which had been effectively frozen by last weekend’s shooting — is back in the public eye, and House Democrats now appear to be seriously organizing for the first time. There is also a clear deadline for taking action that several Democrats have said privately they hoped would pressure their leaders, like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries or former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to take more decisive action themselves.

A draft of the letter, which was first reported by The New York Times, urges DNC members not to hold a virtual roll call instead of their usual time during the convention in Chicago late next month. It insists there is “no legal justification for this extraordinary and unprecedented action that would effectively speed up the nominating process by nearly a month.”

The text goes on to suggest that some of the signatories called for Biden to step aside and others did not, but “we all, however, agree that stifling debate and prematurely ending any potential changes to the Democratic ticket through an unnecessary and unprecedented ‘virtual roll call’ in the coming days is a very bad idea,” the letter continues.

“This could deeply undermine the morale and unity of Democrats — from delegates, volunteers, grassroots organizers and donors to everyday voters — at the worst possible time.”

The move comes three days before the Democratic National Convention’s rules committee is scheduled to meet, when they are expected to vote on creating rules and dates for a virtual roll call vote.

That virtual call was initially authorized to address ballot access issues in Ohio, which had set its voting deadline for Aug. 7. But Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a law that changed the date to Aug. 23, the day after the DNC convention ended. But some Democrats argued that because the law doesn’t take effect until Sept. 1, Republicans could still move to keep their party’s nominee off the ballot, they said.

“The train has left the station, so the only way to express this is in an amendment to the rules [da convenção] [comitê] on Friday. But you can’t do that through the press,” said Donna Brazile, former DNC chairwoman.

But Brazile argued that the DNC did so in good faith, adding that they “made this decision after we learned about the nefarious actions [de estados]including Ohio, so why would we place the freedom of the Democratic Party in the hands of a few nefarious actors?”

“The suggestion that the timeline for the virtual roll call has been accelerated is false,” DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement. “The timeline for the virtual roll call process remains on schedule and unchanged from when the DNC made this decision in May.”

It’s unclear whether the letter will prompt more Democrats to voice their concerns about Biden’s eligibility — rather than their concerns about the party’s nominating process.

“It felt like the dam was about to break” before Saturday night, said a Democratic lawmaker concerned about Biden, who was granted anonymity to discuss the effort. “Everyone appropriately took a step back, the pressure valve was released a little bit. We all knew it would only be a few days before that energy would return.”

Via News Agencies