“We do have the time to have a compressed certification process as is outlined in this and then have proper town halls to introduce these candidates,” Walters said about his plan, which he plans to distribute broadly. “I just think it would be an energizing opportunity to create a new narrative.”
Biden, however, has repeatedly said he will remain in the race, saying Thursday that he would only step aside if his advisers told him “there is no way you can win.”
Walters, who was governor of Oklahoma from 1991 to 1995, served on the Democratic nominating convention rules committee in 2008. He was elected by the Midwestern states to serve on the current DNC executive committee, a group of about 45 people who run the broader party business.
He said he drafted the plan with another DNC member, James Zogby, who put forward a proposal on July 2 for a similar mini-primary process that ended with a delegate vote at the convention.
Walters and Zogby both argue that Biden cannot win the general election and should step aside. They say he alone must decide how to proceed and this plan would not force him to drop out.
“I think Joe Biden no longer has a path to victory and therefore if we want to win the election, Joe is not the guy to carry the ticket,” Walters said.
“It’s entirely his choice, but this cannot go on much longer because the drip-drip-drip is hurtful to him, hurtful to the party, and hurtful to the future of the country,” Zogby said. “The dynamic is not going to change.”
“The primary is over, and in every state the will of Democratic voters was clear: Joe Biden will be the Democratic Party’s nominee for President,” DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement. “Delegates are pledged to reflect voters’ sentiment, and over 99% of delegates are already pledged to Joe Biden headed into our convention.”
The rules committee of the DNC plans to meet Friday to set a ballot for convention delegates, offering the choice of either supporting Biden or voting present, according to people involved in the planning. The committee is expected to set a date for that vote by early August, when a virtual meeting of the convention delegates would be held to officially make Biden the nominee weeks before the convention.
“I’d be surprised if they continue down that path,” Walters said. Zogby argued that even if that vote is set, the rules committee still can change direction if Biden announces he would not be the nominee.
Others have pointed out that DNC members have the power to name a new nominee even after Biden is nominated, in case he steps aside or is incapacitated.
Democratic strategists have argued privately in recent days that “earlier is better,” if Biden chooses to step aside to avoid a scramble at the convention and give time to vet a running mate. Many senior Democrats have also argued that the easiest path forward in that scenario would be a quick selection of Vice President Harris as the new nominee, though some have also argued that there should be some process to make clear that she was broadly selected by the party.
Because Harris is already on the ticket, she can directly take over the funds and operations of the Biden campaign, while other nominees would have to quickly build new operations.
Zogby said he has communicated with about 15 other members of the DNC who were supportive of his earlier plan for a quick and open nomination process to replace Biden. Under the new proposal by Walters and Zogby, the convention rules committee would announce a new process once Biden steps aside.
Candidates would have 10 days to get 40 endorsements from the roughly 450 DNC members, most of whom are elected by their state parties.
“[T]he 40 endorsements must include at least seven DNC members from each of the DNC’s four geographic regions,” the Walters proposal read.
Another 10-day period would follow, during which the national party would organize televised town halls for the approved candidates to make their pitches to the convention’s roughly 4,672 delegates. That group includes some party officials, superdelegates, who are barred from voting to nominate on the first ballot.
“Since it will require a majority of delegates to win the nomination, it is likely that more than one ballot will be required,” the document reads. “The excitement generated by this process and the attention it will be given would very likely provide a huge boost to the eventual nominee.”
