Calls for Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race are mounting. But can Biden be forced off the campaign trail? Here are three ways this could unfold.
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00:00Everyone is talking about whether President Joe Biden can or should continue his presidential campaign.
00:05He just has to step down. He can't win.
00:08But can Biden be forced off the campaign trail? This is what would have to happen.
00:12One scenario is President Biden stepping aside voluntarily before the Democratic National Convention.
00:18The Democratic National Convention begins on August 19th in Chicago.
00:21Shortly after that date, the Biden-Harris ticket is set to formally accept the nomination as a Democratic ticket in 2024.
00:28Should Biden step aside, any potential nominee would have to win a majority of the delegates that he's already won in order to be the nominee.
00:35The nearly 4,000 delegates that he's won would be free to select another nominee.
00:40In this unlikely scenario of an open convention, there would likely be multiple candidates who would throw their hat in the ring to secure the Democratic nomination.
00:47No one has indicated that they're interested in such a move.
00:50I would never turn my back on President Biden.
00:53Joe Biden is our nominee. He's a good man. We trust him. We're behind him.
00:57Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina is one of President Biden's strongest legislative allies.
01:02However, should Biden step aside, Clyburn indicated that he would support a mini-primary.
01:07And he indicated that that form would likely boost Vice President Kamala Harris.
01:11In the past, a president has stepped aside before the party's convention.
01:15In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson was weighed down by the Vietnam War, and he declined to run for re-election as a Democratic nominee.
01:22Instead, Hubert Humphrey was a Democratic nominee, but he lost the election to Richard Nixon after deep Democratic divisions.
01:29This scenario remains unlikely, mostly because President Joe Biden has really dug in and said that he's committed to running for re-election.
01:36There's been a lot of speculation. What's Joe going to do? Is he going to stay in the race?
01:42Is he going to drop out? What's he going to do?
01:46So here's my answer. I am running and going to win again.
01:51On ABC News, Biden told host George Stephanopoulos that he was committed to the race and that he wasn't leaving.
01:57I don't think anybody's more qualified to be president or win this race than me.
02:01And recently, he sent a letter to House Democrats where he said that he was a nominee and that he wasn't going to leave the race.
02:08Should President Biden step aside voluntarily, it could wake up an electorate where a lot of voters were disenchanted with the choices.
02:14But it could also frustrate many of Biden's allies who wanted him to run for re-election.
02:19Another scenario is President Biden being challenged for the nomination.
02:22But at this point, it will likely happen at the convention.
02:25A range of donors are frustrated by President Biden's debate performance.
02:29And they're also unsure of whether or not he'll be able to serve effectively for another four years.
02:33This has caused a huge fervor within the party.
02:36Is everybody behind the president?
02:37It's a family discussion. I'm not going to say any more.
02:40Biden all the way.
02:42Joe Biden.
02:44And some are saying that somebody should step up to challenge President Biden at the convention.
02:48However, so far, no one has done so.
02:51It's unclear who would actually challenge President Biden at a Democratic convention.
02:55But it wouldn't be Vice President Kamala Harris, as she's on the ticket and she's been one of Biden's strongest allies.
03:00Democratic National Committee rules advocate for but don't mandate that delegates select the nominee that a particular state voted for.
03:08But party delegates generally don't diverge from the state results.
03:12President Biden overwhelmingly won nearly 4,000 delegates in the past election.
03:17A particular nominee coming along would basically have to flip the vast majority of those delegates in order to win.
03:24That's something that would be highly unlikely, given that most delegates are party loyalists.
03:29In the past, favorites to win nominations have been challenged by other candidates.
03:34In 1976, Ronald Reagan challenged Gerald Ford.
03:38On one side of the street, Gerald Ford's headquarters.
03:41And on the other side of the street, Ronald Reagan.
03:44And although Reagan came up short, Ford ended up losing the election to Jimmy Carter.
03:49In 1980, Jimmy Carter was challenged by then-Senator Ted Kennedy.
03:54I didn't ask for a challenger, but have no aversion to a campaign.
04:01Even though Kennedy lost, it basically divided Democrats and Carter ended up losing the general election to Ronald Reagan that year.
04:10Generally, intraparty challenges at the convention have weakened the party.
04:13As they did in 1976 with Republicans, and as they did in 1980 with the Democratic Party.
04:18At the moment, it remains unlikely that a Democratic candidate will step up to challenge Biden.
04:23But it could potentially still happen.
04:25Also, by mid to late August, sentiment against Biden would have to change drastically for a challenger to even have a chance in seating Biden.
04:33A Democratic challenger to Biden would mostly be concerned about down-ballot races, saying that Biden would weigh down House and Senate candidates.
04:41However, Biden has said that elites are trying to push him out of the party, and that could cause voters to rally to his side.
04:48In another scenario, President Biden would step aside as the Democratic nominee after the Democratic National Convention.
04:53There is no modern president for a presidential nominee stepping aside as a nominee after the convention.
04:59If that were to happen for Democrats, then the Democratic National Committee, in consultation with Democratic members of Congress and the Democratic Governors Association, would select a new nominee.
05:09One drawback of the DNC selecting the nominee is that it wouldn't be reflective of the Democratic primary electorate.
05:15A lot of people would say that it doesn't reflect the will of the voters.
05:18There are some issues that could arise if Biden steps aside as a nominee after the convention.
05:23The party would be running against some pretty strict ballot deadlines.
05:27So even if Biden wasn't the nominee, he could still be listed as the top of the ticket on ballots.
05:32Also, that particular nominee wouldn't have a lot of time to campaign.
05:36It would just be a matter of weeks before the general election.
05:39But we do have to note that the Democratic National Committee can tweak their rules.
05:43So a lot of these things aren't set in stone.
05:46There could be something that could be implemented, and that's where the nature of the race could take a new turn.
05:52If President Biden were to withdraw from the race, it would be something that hasn't happened in modern politics in a long time.
05:59Former President Donald Trump and Republicans are banking on President Biden being the Democratic nominee.
06:05Meanwhile, the radical left Democrat party is divided in chaos and having a full scale breakdown
06:12all because they can't decide which of their candidates is more unfit to be president.
06:19Sleepy crooked Joe Biden or laughing Kamala.
06:23But should he not be the nominee, they would have to recalibrate how they approach the election and running against another nominee.
06:29There are also some serious financial implications as presidential candidates have to raise lots of money to be competitive in those races.
06:36Should Vice President Kamala Harris be the Democratic presidential nominee,
06:40she would have access to the funds that were raised in both the primary and the general election.
06:45As of the end of June, the Biden-Harris ticket has about $240 million cash on hand.
06:50However, if Vice President Harris remains the vice presidential nominee,
06:55the Federal Election Commission would have to decide whoever emerges as the Democratic nominee
07:00if they would have access to the funds that the Biden-Harris ticket had raised.
07:04But if neither Biden or Harris are on the ticket, the new nominees would have to raise money from scratch.
07:10Right now, President Biden remains firmly committed to his reelection bid, and he says he's staying in the race.
07:16So most of these scenarios still appear to be highly unlikely.
07:20But Democrats on Capitol Hill remain pretty divided over the fate of his reelection campaign.
07:25Some feel as though he can win in the fall, and some of them still have concerns and questions about whether or not he can wage a successful campaign against former President Donald Trump.