Democratic committee chair says party will deliver a presidential nominee by Aug 7
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President Joe Biden has dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris as his successor, but he cannot force party delegates to follow his lead.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
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WASHINGTON – Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Jaime Harrison said on July 22 that the Democratic Party will deliver a presidential nominee by Aug 7 and is committed to an “open and fair” nominating process.
Earlier on July 22, Vice-President Kamala Harris swiftly consolidated support for her presidential bid and secured commitments from hundreds of convention delegates.
Ms Harris’ campaign aims to wrap up her presidential nomination by July 24 and secure a majority of the nearly 4,000 convention delegates needed to win, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
President Joe Biden has endorsed Ms Harris as his successor,
Mr Harrison told reporters on a conference call: “I want to assure you that we are committed to an open and fair nominating process.
“The work ahead may be unprecedented, but we are prepared to undertake a transparent, swift and orderly process to move forward as a united Democratic Party.”
Ms Minyon Moore, chair of the 2024 Democratic National Convention, said a virtual nominating process ahead of the Aug 19 to 22 event in Chicago was still needed.
“There is still a need for a virtual component to our nominating process. That has not changed,” she said, adding that an electronic voting system would be used to ensure deadlines were met.
The DNC had said earlier that a virtual vote would take place between Aug 1 and Aug 5, in order to have the nomination process completed by Aug 7, the date by which Ohio law had required a nominee to be in place to make the state’s ballot.
Ohio lawmakers subsequently pushed back the deadline to Sept 1, but party officials said they hoped to beat the Aug 7 deadline to avoid any legal risk in the state.
“By executing this process swiftly and effectively, we will bring our party together as we head to the convention in Chicago united,” Ms Moore said. REUTERS
