Massachusetts Democrat expresses concerns with DNC's plans to hold virtual roll ahead of convention
Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) on Sunday criticized the Democratic National Convention (DNC)'s plans to hold a virtual roll call to nominate President Biden ahead of the convention next month, arguing the party needs more time to discuss the best solution for the party moving forward.
"That roll call should happen at the convention, I've been publicly clear about that," Auchincloss said on "Fox News Sunday." "Because the party needs the time and the space to have this debate. And I don't think that's a sign of weakness. Actually, parties are meant to have vigorous conversations about who best can win an election in order to effectuate policy for the American people."
"Unlike the Republican Party, which right now is a mosh pit on a human hand grenade. They call it unity, I call it an impending disaster because they are going to underperform and he's going to try to steal the election again," he added.
The virtual roll-call plan, which will likely take place some time between Aug. 1 and 7., was originally intended to ensure Biden appears on the ballot in all 50 states after Democrats were notified earlier this year that their convention didn't meet an Ohio deadline to certify the party's presidential nominee before the Aug. 19 convention.
However, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) in June signed legislation to extend the deadline from Aug. 7 to Aug. 31.
Since then, a growing number of Democrats have expressed concerns with Biden's viability as a candidate following his poor debate showing against former President Trump last month.
Auchincloss revealed he has concerns about the Democrats’ performance at the polls in November, while noting that the election is still four months away.
“If the election were held today, Democrats would be in trouble. I think there’s no empirical way to say otherwise,” he said. “But the election is four months from now. And we have not just very strong candidates at the House and Senate level, we also have strong surrogates."
"We’ve got [Vice President] Kamala Harris who can prosecute a case, which is good because Trump’s a convicted felon. We’ve got [Transportation Secretary] who can talk about infrastructure in the economy for swing state voters. We got [Commerce Secretary], a successful governor who is now leading the strategy to outcompete China," he added.
A group of House Democrats warned the DNC in a letter last week against going ahead with the virtual roll-call plan.
“There is no legal justification for this extraordinary and unprecedented action, which would effectively accelerate the nomination process by nearly a month,” the letter read, adding that the justification for the virtual roll call is no longer “valid.”
The Biden campaign defended the virtual nomination plans when speaking to reporters last week.
When questioned on why a virtual roll call is still necessary ahead of the convention, Biden principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks told reporters in Milwaukee that Ohio Republicans “decided to play games.”
“We have an obligation to make sure, as we have said, to stand by free and fair elections and make sure that the process runs as smoothly as possible,” he said. “It is our obligation as a campaign to make sure that President Biden is on the ballot, as well as Donald Trump, for anybody who is trying to play those games.”
Reporters then accused him of dodging questions about why they are moving forward with the virtual roll call.
“I didn’t dodge the question,” Fulks said. “It’s the fact that they solved it with ‘a legislative fix,’” he said, putting up air quotes with his hands.
“We moved forward, we instituted this before they had a fix, and we’re going to continue on that path because we’re not going to leave it up to them to change the rules again,” he added.
A number of House Democrats, along with some senators have publicly urged the president to step aside in the 2024 race over concerns, arguing the stakes of Trump winning reelection are too high.