DNC Scrambles to Contain Chaos Unleashed By Biden’s Surprise Withdrawal

As rumors swirled that President Joe Biden could be forced to withdraw from the presidential race, leaders at Democratic National Committee were adamant: Biden would not be dropping out, and the party would move forward with a plan to nominate him through a virtual roll call held online weeks before of the party’s convention kicks off in Chicago next month. 

DNC staff were caught by surprise Sunday when Biden announced his withdrawal, two sources familiar with the situation tell Rolling Stone. The announcement was likely kept as a closely guarded secret because of how regularly the details of private meetings held in recent days were leaked to the press, amid the intense speculation about whether Biden would indeed drop out of the race, one of the sources said.

“Of course they were caught off guard,” a close Biden ally said separately on Sunday. “So much of this has been coordinated through leaks and trying to tear down a great president. President Biden and his team are doing this on his terms and no one else’s.”

Following Biden’s announcement, the DNC quickly put out a statement, which included no details about whether plans for the virtual roll call would proceed as planned. The statement, from DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, which was sent more than an hour after Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, did not mention Harris by name.

“The work that we must do now, while unprecedented, is clear,” Harrison said. “In the coming days, the party will undertake a transparent and orderly process to move forward as a united Democratic Party with a candidate who can defeat Donald Trump in November.” 

He added: “This process will be governed by established rules and procedures of the party. Our delegates are prepared to take seriously their responsibility in swiftly delivering a candidate to the American people.”

The party had previously intended to nominate a candidate through a virtual roll call that would be completed by August 7, before the convention, which is set to open on August 19. Delegates who spoke with Rolling Stone on Sunday said they had not received guidance from the party about whether that early vote would take place as planned.

During the Democratic primary, Biden amassed 3,904 of the party’s total 3,933 pledged delegates. With Biden having officially dropped out, those delegates are now free to vote for any candidate who puts their name forward.

At least one group was already working to organize Democratic delegates with an eye toward the increasing probability that Biden would be forced to drop out. Delegates Are Democracy has been in contact with hundreds of delegates in recent days as part of an effort to educate them on the rules of an open convention, says Christopher Dempsey, one of the figures behind the campaign. 

“‘Release’ is a way that people have been describing this, but it’s not a technical term — [Biden] does not need to issue a letter saying he releases the delegates. His withdrawal from the process is sufficient to essentially waive or or release the delegates from any commitments that are pledges that they’ve made,” Dempsey explains. “Effectively, this is now an open conversation.”

In order to secure the Democratic presidential nomination, a candidate needs the votes of at least 1,968 pledged party delegates on the first ballot in order to win the nomination outright. If the voting goes to a second ballot, 739 superdelegates would be permitted to cast ballots. 

For anyone to challenge Harris — who racked up a series of high-profile endorsements in the hours immediately following Biden’s announcement — that person would need a letter nominating them signed by at least 300 delegates, with no more than 50 of those delegates coming from any individual state. 

While Biden’s endorsement of Harris does not obligate his former delegates to support her, delegates reached by Rolling Stone on Sunday said Harris had their full and unconditional backing, even as they voiced frustration about the enormous pressure placed, by donors and party leaders, on Biden to withdraw. 

“Given the pressure from people like [former House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and others, I just think the president’s reelection prospects are just so damaged that he had no other option,” says Luis Aleman, a pledged Biden delegate from California. 

Justin Fleming, a Pennsylvania State Representative and pledged Biden delegate, was similarly frustrated with the effort to force Biden out of the race. Such calls, in his opinion, undermined the fact that millions of voters had cast ballots for him in the Democratic primary. Now that Biden has made the decision, though, Fleming says, “The obvious choice is Vice President Harris.”

“She has been side-by-side with the president for the last 3.5 years, doing the work of running the country, doing the work on immigration, doing the work on infrastructure,student loans, health care expansion and other things,” Fleming says. “That’s where I am. I don’t know if my fellow delegates will agree. But, as I’ve had a chance to reflect on it, I think the Vice President would make a great nominee.”

Jennifer Lazlo Mizrahi is an American disability rights activist and a pledged Biden delegate from Maryland. She was in a DNC Zoom meeting about credentials for the convention on Sunday when the news that Biden would be withdrawing from the race broke. “I just love this president. I’m crying — literally crying — because he’s so great,” she said. “I look forward to the rest of his time in office, and I’m really looking forward to a new candidate, so that we can win.”

Mizrahi said that she has not heard from any other candidates at this point seeking her support for their candidacy. In conversations with other delegates, she hears uniform support for Harris.

“As we’ve seen President Biden have a sort of decrease in his capacities and capabilities, we’ve seen this tremendous increase in the Vice President’s capabilities and capacities,” Mizrahi adds. “Almost all the delegates have seen her in person at live events recently, and we’ve been really, really impressed with what she offers and how she’s going about it. She’s just very strong.” 

Aleman, for his part, was also pleased with Biden’s endorsement. “I’m sure we’ll get more details from the DNC about how this whole thing is going to play out. But with the president endorsing her, she’s got, 100 percent, my full support,” Aleman says. “I think she’ll be an excellent torchbearer for the party to articulate the things that we as Democrats stand for.”