Make wishtv.com your home page

Democrats shift to find a new nominee after Biden’s departure

Steven Webster IU Professor

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — On Sunday, the 2024 presidential election took an unexpected turn as President Joe Biden withdrew from his reelection campaign.

This comes after concerns from top Democrats about Biden’s age and performance during June’s presidential debate.

Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race is similar to Lyndon B. Johnson’s decision to not accept the Democratic Party’s nomination in March 1968.

Steven Webster, associate professor of political science, joined Daybreak on Monday to discuss more.

“You are right that this is a historic thing. It’s been many years since we’ve seen something even close to this. (We) have to go to back to LBJ in 1968. So, this isn’t something that we don’t see quite often. This is literally history in the making here,” Webster said.

The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to take place from Aug. 19 – Aug. 22 in Chicago, Webster says the next couple of weeks will be interesting as Democrats shift to find a nominee for their party so late into the election year.

After Biden’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, Webster says there is a strong chance that delegates will vote for Harris and make her the party’s official nominee.

But, some Democrats are concerned that a new nominee will not have time to make it on the ballot, specifically in swing states like Ohio.

Webster says getting Harris on the ballot should not be a problem considering the Ohio legislature has altered its deadline for parties to pick their presidential nominees.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio lawmakers voted to move their deadline from Aug. 7 to Sept. 1 to accommodate the Democratic Party’s mid-August convention.