A letter circulating among some House Democrats that expressed concerns about a plan to swiftly cement President Joe Biden’s place as the party’s nominee in July, well ahead of the party’s in-person convention, will not be sent to the Democratic National Committee “at this time,” a spokesperson for Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., told Spectrum News. 

It comes after Democratic National Convention Rules Committee co-chair Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, said on Wednesday that such a virtual roll call to make Biden the nominee this November will not take place before Aug. 1. 

What You Need To Know

  • A letter circulating amongst some House Democrats that expressed concerns about a plan to swiftly cement President Joe Biden’s place as the party’s nominee in November ahead of the party’s convention will not be sent to the Democratic National Committee “at this time,” a spokesperson for Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., told Spectrum News 
  • It comes after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, co-chair of the Democratic National Convention Rules Committee, said on Wednesday that such a virtual roll call to make Biden the nominee will not take place before Aug. 1 
  • The spokesperson for Huffman told Spectrum News that they are “glad to see that the pressure has worked and the DNC will not rush this virtual process through in July. We won't be sending the letter at this time" 
  • In May, Democrats announced they would conduct a virtual roll call ahead of the party’s official in-person convention on Aug. 19-22 to ensure Biden would be on the ballot in Ohio, which had a Aug. 7 deadline
  • Ohio since pushed the deadline back but the DNC has said it is necessary to move forward with the virtual roll call nonetheless to ensure Ohio cannot "play games"

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., pushed for the later timeframe, a source familiar told Spectrum News. The source added Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., both agreed to push the DNC for the later timing.

Jeffries, per another source, relayed members' concerns about the timing to the DNC. 

Walz, speaking at a DNC and Biden campaign press conference in Milwaukee, where the Republican National Convention is being held, told reporters that a Friday meeting of the DNC’s rules committee will be about “setting out the agenda together” moving forward and will not include a virtual roll call.

He noted the committee “needs” to get such a roll call done by Aug. 15, however. 

The spokesperson for Huffman told Spectrum News that they are “glad to see that the pressure has worked and the DNC will not rush this virtual process through in July. We won't be sending the letter at this time.”

In May, Democrats announced they would conduct a virtual roll call ahead of the party’s official in-person convention on Aug. 19-22 to ensure Biden would be on the ballot in Ohio. The move was in response to the state’s Aug. 7 deadline for candidates to qualify. 

State lawmakers in Ohio have since passed a bill pushing back the deadline to facilitate the date of the Democratic National Convention. But the Biden campaign and DNC have said it is necessary to move forward with the virtual roll call before the convention nonetheless, expressing concerns that Ohio (which has a Republican governor and secretary of state) could still “play games” that could leave their candidate’s name absent. 

“We’re not going to leave it up to Ohio Republicans to have President Biden not be on the ballot,” Biden’s deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks told reporters during a press conference in Milwaukee on Tuesday. 

“We’re going to continue with that path and not play games about who is on this ballot,” he added. 

The decision to move forward with the virtual tally concerned some Democrats, particularly after Biden’s debate performance in Atlanta last month sent a wave of panic about his ability to beat Trump in November through the Democratic party and led to about 20 Democrats in Congress to call on the president to step out of the race entirely. 

One of those Democrats who has called in Biden to drop his reelection bid, Rep. Mike Levin of California, had intended to sign on to the letter expressing concern about a virtual roll call in July, a source familiar confirmed. 

Another California House Democrat, Rep. Brad Sherman, said he had to “take a look” at the letter but appeared skeptical of the virtual plan in general in an interview with Spectrum News on Tuesday. 

“The only reason we were going to do it is a law in Ohio that has been changed,” he said. 

He added that nominating Biden in-person at the convention “creates legitimacy.” 

“There are gonna be attacks on the legitimacy of the nomination, there’s attacks on the legitimacy of everything in our society these days and legitimacy correlates with tradition,” Sherman said. “And I think we are all aware of the tradition of voting in person.” 

Sherman, who expressed concerns about Biden’s candidacy after last month’s debate, noted the president has significantly stepped up his public appearances and off-script events. 

“I said then that I needed him to do certain things, he hasn’t done exactly everything I asked for but boy, he’s come, he’s close,” Sherman said, adding he would still like to see the president take “tough questions on public policy” for 90 minutes at 9 p.m. – the time and length of the debate.