Is it too late for DNC delegates to abandon Biden? A look at the Democrats' nomination process

Many Americans are questioning what the Democratic nomination process will look like if President Biden stays in the race or allows for the selection of a new candidate.

President Biden faces a growing number of calls to step aside from the 2024 race for the White House, leading many Americans to question what the Democratic Party's nomination process will look like if he stays in the race or ultimately allows for the selection of a new candidate.

Biden has stated several times since his damaging debate performance last month he will not drop out of the race. But matters would be less complicated for the Democratic Party if the president willfully chose to step aside before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago from August 19-22.

Democrats will officially choose their nominee at the convention, though they reportedly plan to nominate Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the convention next month.

At the convention, a candidate must win support from the majority of the party's nearly 4,000 delegates, the party officials who formally select the nominee. Delegates are distributed to candidates based on the results of primary elections in each state.

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For the Democratic Party, there are "pledged" and "unpledged" delegates. Pledged delegates have to vote for whichever candidate in their party wins the primary or caucus in their respective state, while unpledged delegates may choose to vote for any candidate. In the Democratic Party, unpledged delegates are known as "superdelegates," current elected officials and party leaders who can support any candidate.

A total of 1,976 delegates are needed to clinch the Democratic nomination for president. Biden has won roughly 3,900 this year. Those delegates have "pledged" to support Biden's candidacy, according to DNC rules.

Though Biden has not indicated he plans to withdraw from the race, if he were to do so, his delegates would no longer be pledged to him. His withdrawal would lead to an open convention, resulting in Democrats being able to make suggestions for potential nominees and cast votes until one candidate receives a majority of delegate votes.

"Biden has a hammerlock on those delegates and alternates. Only he can release them if he wants, and he's not gonna release them," Craig Shirley, a presidential historian and biographer of former President Reagan, told Fox News Digital.

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If Biden does not willingly drop out of the race, however, DNC regulations could seemingly make it possible for delegates to force Biden out of the race. Though it has not been tried in the modern political era, there is one rule that leaves open the possibility of giving delegates some leeway in who they support for the nomination.

Rule 13 (J) of the DNC's Delegate Selection Rules states, "Delegates elected to the national convention pledged to a presidential candidate shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them."

To date, there is no definition or any prior history of what would constitute "in all good conscience."

Shirley dismissed the rule, insisting the delegates will remain bound to Biden and that all of the "hype" and "hot air spewing forth" about what delegates will ultimately do is "all media (speculation) right now."

"What is going to happen is this: Biden is going to be renominated with Kamala Harris. He can't afford to get rid of Kamala Harris because he's stuck with her. He doesn't want her. She's a liability, but he would also, by getting rid of Kamala, insult and lose a valuable constituency. He's not going to do that," Shirley said.

Though that rule is in place, the DNC could alter its own party rules at any point.

The rules have been changed in the past, for example, when President Lyndon B. Johnson decided not to seek re-election in 1968. At the time, the party shifted from an open convention process, where delegates could vote for whomever they wanted, to a bound process, where a delegate was attached to a candidate based on primary results.

The DNC is considering formally nominating Biden as early as mid-July, two Democratic sources confirmed to Fox News Digital this month.

A potential date for Biden’s nomination is July 21, the day the Democratic National Convention’s credentials committee meets virtually. Party officials have said the reason is that the convention falls after Ohio’s ballot deadline of Aug. 7. 

Earlier this summer, Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed legislation altering the state filing deadline to Aug. 31, ensuring the Democratic nominee could be placed on the state's November ballot even without the early virtual roll call vote.

Word of the potential July 21 roll call was first reported by Bloomberg News.

Fox News Digital's Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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