President Joe Biden won’t be seeking a second term after all.
After weeks of debating among many Democrats following a poor debate performance in late June, Biden announced Sunday afternoon on social media that he was stepping aside from the race.
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It was a stunning reversal from Biden, who despite calls from many in his party, remained defiant that he would remain in the race after collecting more than enough delegates during state primary elections to be officially chosen as the Democratic nominee.
While the news is good in the eyes of some Democrats who were trying to convince Biden to drop out out for fears he couldn’t beat Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump, the big question moving forward is, what’s next?
Here is what the Democrats will need to sort out as their convention from Aug. 19-22 in Chicago approaches.
Where does the money go?
According to recent filings, the Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris reelection campaign had amassed $91 million in donations.
Following his decision, Biden publicly endorsed Harris to be the new nominee.
The campaign has the account registered with the Federal Election Commission in the name of both candidates, so Harris could use those funds if she is chosen as Biden’s replacement, according to experts cited in an AP article.
If Harris decides she doesn’t want to run, only $2,000 could be transferred from those funds to a new candidate.
In a Reuters article, experts disagreed whether the funds would remain intact for a new candidate as long as Harris was still the nominee for Vice President. Regardless, a legal fight would likely ensue if that scenario was attempted.
The Democrats could try and shift funds between various Political Action Committees, but there are limits as to how much and there’s likely little else that can be done with the original campaign fund unless Harris is the nominee.
Can another candidate besides Vice President Kamala Harris be chosen?
Yes, but the process would be complicated and potentially messy. And lots of money would have to be raised in a short amount of time.
If the Democrats open it up to a nomination process, there likely would be a brokered convention.
A brokered convention is when a party’s nominee isn’t selected by a majority in the first round of delegate voting at the party’s nominating convention, according to Ballotpedia.
At that point, delegates are then allowed to vote for another preferred candidate, which paves the way for input from party leadership and maneuvering.
By convention rules, delegates are bound or pledged to candidates that won state primary elections, according to history.com, so Biden would’ve been the choice at the convention had he stayed in the race.
But with Biden now out, it opens everything up.
According to a Reuters article, new candidates would have to get 600 convention delegates to be nominated.
It could lead to candidates lobbying individual state delegations at the convention for support, according to the AP.
The last brokered convention o take place was at the 1952 Democratic National Convention, according to history.com.
During that convention, Tennessee Sen. Estes Kefauver was the frontrunner after winning primaries in 12 states. But some Democrats weren’t happy with his televised hearings about organized crime, and ended up backing Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson, a write-in candidate who won the nomination after three rounds of voting.
Stevenson ended up losing badly to Dwight D. Eisenhower in the general election.
What is most important strategy for Democrats now?
In short, it’s unity. Maybe even unprecedented unity. One option would be to get behind Harris and hope her pull with African-American and women voters would be a major threat to Trump.
But if Democrats aren’t on board with Harris and are willing to bypass all the money that’s in the Biden-Harris campaign fund, then they’ll need to get to work in a hurry.
The sooner a new replacement is zeroed on, the better. Donors can (and would have to) pour in millions toward getting behind a new candidate in a quick amount of time, but it would be a lot of easier if that money can go to one candidate instead of several who are lobbying for the nomination.
Regardless of what happens, an unprecedented time in American politics is about to get even more so with what the Democrats will decide on.