00:00The 2024 presidential election is shaping up to be one of the most consequential in
00:04American history.
00:06Now that President Joe Biden has ended his re-election bid, Democrats must choose a replacement
00:10nominee and they don't have a whole lot of time.
00:13The election is just over 100 days away and the Democratic National Convention is set
00:17to begin on August 19th in Chicago, just a couple of weeks from now.
00:21So far, no Democrat has challenged Vice President Kamala Harris for the party's nomination.
00:25She has already been endorsed by Biden and a handful of prominent Democrats, including
00:30Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and California Governor Gavin Newsom, but it remains to be
00:34seen if anyone will ultimately challenge her.
00:37The next couple of days and weeks are going to be crucial for Democrats.
00:40Let me explain who picks the nominee and how that process works.
00:44The simple answer is that a few thousand Democratic delegates who represent voters will be deciding
00:48the party's nominee.
00:49Not Joe Biden and not the DNC leadership, but the delegates who were chosen to represent
00:54their state or community at the presidential nominating convention.
00:58Delegates are usually early supporters of a candidate or party activists or political
01:02leaders.
01:03There's around 4,700 of them and more than 4,000 delegates were pledged to Biden before
01:08he dropped out.
01:09Now those delegates are free to support whomever they want.
01:12And while no Democrat has yet challenged Kamala Harris as the nominee, it could get complicated
01:18for the delegates if there are other candidates in the mix.
01:21For now, it remains unclear when the delegates will vote on a new nominee.
01:26The DNC is expected to hold a virtual roll call sometime in early August where the delegates
01:30will cast their votes on a new nominee so that they can avoid an open convention.
01:35But the DNC hasn't yet officially confirmed that a virtual roll call will take place or
01:39even when.
01:40Now there's also an effort among some Republicans to complicate taking Biden off the ballot.
01:45House Speaker Mike Johnson said on July 21st, quote, every state has its own system.
01:51And in some of these, it's not possible to simply just switch out a candidate, end quote.
01:56That suggests that Republicans are looking to mount an effort to challenge whether replacing
02:00Biden on the ticket complies with state election laws, but it remains to be seen whether there's
02:05any merit to that argument.
02:06One of the biggest questions after Biden and others endorsed Kamala Harris was who would
02:10be her running mate in a race against Donald Trump and J.D. Vance.
02:13Harris could be inclined to turn to someone from a swing state that the party needs to
02:17win like Arizona Senator Mark Kelly or Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
02:21And while we don't know who she's thinking of, she's expected to pick a male running
02:25mate that gives the ticket some more balance.
02:28Several names have been thrown out already, including Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear,
02:32Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, North Carolina
02:36Governor Roy Cooper, Colorado Governor Jared Polis, and Maryland Governor Wes Moore.
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