Since the June 27th presidential debate, a growing number of Democrats have expressed reservations about President Biden continuing on as the party’s nominee for the 2024 election. Could President Biden remove himself from the ticket this late in the election season? And if so, what would be the process for replacing him?
Here are Five Facts on changing a presidential ticket.
- Three past presidents have declined to run for reelection and forced a changed presidential ticket.
Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Harry Truman, and Calvin Coolidge each chose to drop out of their races for a second full term. In the cases of Johnson and Truman, the motivating factors were a combination of age, poor polling, and a lack of party support. Meanwhile, Calvin Coolidge, who had taken office in 1923 following the death of the previous president, Warren Harding, won reelection in 1924. However, before the 1928 election, he announced to the press that he would not run again. However, if President Biden decides to drop out, his decision will come later in the election cycle than any other president.
- Democratic National Convention delegates are responsible for formally nominating President Biden for his party’s ticket.
Current DNC plans entail holding a virtual roll call vote to renominate President Biden ahead of the in-person convention to meet Ohio's ballot access requirements. With President Biden running against limited opposition during the presidential primary, he will enter the convention with 3,886 pledged delegates, well ahead of the estimated 1,976 delegates required to secure the nomination.
- Delegates for the Democratic National Convention are not legally bound to support President Biden.
The rules of the DNC state that “All delegates to the National Convention pledged to a presidential candidate shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.” According to some legal experts, the “good conscience” language does not force delegates pledged to a candidate to vote for that candidate. However, each candidate has the final say on the makeup of their slate of delegates in each state, meaning that pledged delegates who threaten to vote for another candidate could easily end up replaced.
- If President Biden drops out before the convention, his pledged delegates are free to support whichever candidate they choose.
In other words, delegates pledged to a candidate who drops out cannot be compelled by that candidate to vote for a certain alternative. With no clear favored successor to President Biden established within the party, this means that the thousands of Biden delegates at the convention would be free to support any number of potential alternatives.
- Should President Biden drop out of the race after the convention, the Democratic National Committee can unilaterally select his replacement.
In contrast to an open convention, where thousands of delegates could cast their votes for any one of a number of candidates through multiple rounds of voting, should the top of the ticket open up after the Democratic National Convention ends on August 22nd, the replacement candidate will be chosen by the roughly 400 members of the Democratic National Committee, comprising state party leaders from across the country as well as certain elected officials.
