THE DELEGATES CAN DO WHAT THEY WANT: WHAT JOE BIDEN GETS IT BUT THE MEDIA DOESN’T
One hour before this morning’s Democratic National Committee Rules Committee meeting, more than 200 delegates and Democratic activists joined a virtual meeting with Delegates Are Democracy. The informational session featured Elaine Kamarck, an expert on presidential nominations, a DNC member, and a senior fellow in governance studies and the director of the Center for Effective Public Management at Brookings.
Key takeaways
There remains a clear path to an in-person vote by delegates at the Democratic National Convention in August
Media must properly frame empowered nature of delegates:
“There is no such thing as Joe Biden releasing his delegates. And Joe Biden gets this. I don't know why the rest of the press doesn't get it. Joe Biden said in his NATO Press conference, he said, quote ‘the delegates can do whatever the hell they want to do’ and that is basically it,” said Elaine Kamarck on the webinar.
Delegates are not bound by party rules to vote for a particular candidate.
Delegates are instructed by DNC rules to vote “in good conscience” for a candidate who “reflects the sentiments of those who elected them.”
Delegates choosing a presidential nominee is nothing new.
Conventions have served to do this since the 1830s, and even in the modern era delegates have remained the official and formal way for parties to put forward a candidate
Delegates Are Democracy is organizing to keep delegates informed as they assume a key role in the democratic process, especially if President Biden were to withdraw from the race.
Statement by Delegates Are Democracy founder Chris Dempsey:
“Delegates play an essential role in democracy. We have talked with delegates all over the country and hear some key themes: they are anxious and excited about what might be ahead, but feel under-informed about how the process of nominating a candidate would work. Our organization is stepping into the vacuum to put forth credible information about the process. Elaine Kamarck is the nation’s expert on the party nomination process. She laid out clearly today that the process is still open and should be seen as a legitimate act of democracy. An open, transparent process will lead to the strongest nominee and the strongest chance of beating Trump in November.”
The full video can be found at delegatesaredemocracy.com/
A full unedited transcript is linked here, and coverage of the event in POLITICO is here.
ABOUT ELAINE KAMARCK
Elaine Kamarck is a DNC member who literally wrote the book on presidential nominations, Primary Politics: Everything You Need to Know About How America Nominates Its Presidential Candidates. Kamarck was featured on Ezra Klein’s podcast for the "Here's How an Open Democratic Convention Would Work” episode.
Klein noted regarding Kamarck: “She’s been in the room where all this happens. She’s worked on four presidential campaigns, on ten nominating conventions, both for Democrats and Republicans. She’s been a superdelegate to five Democratic conventions. So she both has the theory and the history but the actual felt experience of what it is like when you are figuring out these rules and trying to work within them.”
ABOUT DELEGATES ARE DEMOCRACY
It is essential that Democrats nominate a candidate who has a strong and viable path to beating Donald Trump in November. As we approach the Convention in mid-August, the most important people in the party are not elected officials or donors or columnists, but rather the delegates whose job it is to select a nominee. In this time of uncertainty, Democrats must be prepared, informed, and organized. Delegates Are Democracy is being formed to provide support for an orderly, “small-d” democratic convention that supports the legitimacy of the process according to the rules of the Democratic Party and in the eyes of the American people. Learn more at delegatesaredemocracy.com.
The New York Times reported yesterday about Delegates Are Democracy, formed by Democratic activists last week "to educate delegates about the various nomination processes, including for a hypothetical open convention if Mr. Biden were to step aside.” The Times piece notes “[Dempsey] said his team had spoken to scores of delegates, and many believed they were being taken for granted. ‘Almost without exception, the delegates that we talk to feel that they do not have adequate information about what’s happening,’ Dempsey said. ‘They want to be a part of something that is seen as legitimate, orderly, fair, transparent, and they don’t feel that way right now.’”