The Democratic National Committee is preparing to nominate President Biden as the party’s presidential nominee through a “virtual roll call” ahead of its August convention in Chicago, an unusual step to ensure that Biden can meet a deadline to appear on the ballot in Ohio.
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The move comes despite a special legislative session in Ohio this week that Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said would resolve the issue. Democrats are not optimistic about the special session, given that DeWine has added an unrelated proposal on campaign finance to the agenda that Republicans want considered alongside legislation that would allow Biden on the ballot.
“Joe Biden will be on the ballot in Ohio and all 50 states, and Ohio Republicans agree,” Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement. “But when the time has come for action, they have failed to act every time, so Democrats will land this plane on our own.”
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A virtual roll call, Harrison added, will ensure that the GOP “can’t chip away at our democracy through incompetence or partisan tricks.”
The exact timing of the virtual roll call remains to be seen, but party officials emphasized it will be before Ohio’s Aug. 7 ballot certification deadline. The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee is set to meet June 4 to vote on a resolution to clear the way for the virtual event. If approved, the resolution will then need approval from the full DNC.
It would not be the first time Democrats finalized their presidential nominee virtually. In 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, the Democratic National Convention was conducted almost entirely remotely, with the roll call featuring prerecorded messages and live shots from across the country.
But the in-person roll call of states, culminating with the official nomination of a presidential candidate, is typically a focal point of the pageantry of political conventions. The Chicago convention is still expected to feature the roll call, but the formal nomination of Biden will be during the virtual proceedings.
Ohio’s GOP secretary of state, Frank LaRose, first warned Democrats in early April that Biden could miss the ballot because the Democratic National Convention, which is set for Aug. 19-22, falls after the state’s certification deadline of Aug. 7. A similar challenge arose in Alabama, but state lawmakers passed a bill to push the deadline back, and Gov. Kay Ivey (R) quickly signed it into law.
Ohio state legislators had hoped to fix the problem legislatively, too, but leaders announced this month they were at a stalemate.
When DeWine announced the special session last week, he said it would also include legislation to “prohibit campaign spending by foreign nationals.”
While it is already illegal for foreign nationals to give to candidates in Ohio, state Republicans have been looking to crack down on foreign influence in ballot issue campaigns after liberal groups spent big last year to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. One of the groups that was involved, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, is heavily funded by Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss.
DeWine on Thursday downplayed the idea that the foreign contribution ban would sink the proposal to get Biden on the ballot.
“I don’t know why this would be a poison pill,” DeWine said. “I’m not going to get into the merits on it other than to say that I think when you ask most Ohioans, they would think it’s a ridiculous situation that a foreign national can come in to the state of Ohio — or not even come in to the state of Ohio — and spend a significant amount to affect an Ohio ballot issue.”
After DeWine’s announcement, the Ohio Democratic Party chair, Elizabeth Walters, called on the state’s Republicans to “put politics aside and pass a clean bill to put Joe Biden on the ballot.”
Biden’s campaign has long expressed confidence that he will be on the ballot in all 50 states. Democrats initially floated “provisional” ballot certification as a possible solution, though LaRose and Alabama’s Republican secretary of state, Wes Allen, rejected the method.
The Ohio Senate convened Tuesday afternoon after the DNC’s announcement, and Democrats were quick to argue that the special session — with its controversial campaign finance proposal — was no longer necessary.
“We don’t want your fix, we don’t need your fix,” state Sen. Bill DeMora told his GOP colleagues, later adding, “This bill, as far as I’m concerned, is moot.”
Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment newsletter.
The move comes despite a special legislative session in Ohio this week that Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said would resolve the issue. Democrats are not optimistic about the special session, given that DeWine has added an unrelated proposal on campaign finance to the agenda that Republicans want considered alongside legislation that would allow Biden on the ballot.
“Joe Biden will be on the ballot in Ohio and all 50 states, and Ohio Republicans agree,” Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement. “But when the time has come for action, they have failed to act every time, so Democrats will land this plane on our own.”
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A virtual roll call, Harrison added, will ensure that the GOP “can’t chip away at our democracy through incompetence or partisan tricks.”
The exact timing of the virtual roll call remains to be seen, but party officials emphasized it will be before Ohio’s Aug. 7 ballot certification deadline. The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee is set to meet June 4 to vote on a resolution to clear the way for the virtual event. If approved, the resolution will then need approval from the full DNC.
It would not be the first time Democrats finalized their presidential nominee virtually. In 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, the Democratic National Convention was conducted almost entirely remotely, with the roll call featuring prerecorded messages and live shots from across the country.
But the in-person roll call of states, culminating with the official nomination of a presidential candidate, is typically a focal point of the pageantry of political conventions. The Chicago convention is still expected to feature the roll call, but the formal nomination of Biden will be during the virtual proceedings.
Ohio’s GOP secretary of state, Frank LaRose, first warned Democrats in early April that Biden could miss the ballot because the Democratic National Convention, which is set for Aug. 19-22, falls after the state’s certification deadline of Aug. 7. A similar challenge arose in Alabama, but state lawmakers passed a bill to push the deadline back, and Gov. Kay Ivey (R) quickly signed it into law.
Ohio state legislators had hoped to fix the problem legislatively, too, but leaders announced this month they were at a stalemate.
When DeWine announced the special session last week, he said it would also include legislation to “prohibit campaign spending by foreign nationals.”
While it is already illegal for foreign nationals to give to candidates in Ohio, state Republicans have been looking to crack down on foreign influence in ballot issue campaigns after liberal groups spent big last year to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. One of the groups that was involved, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, is heavily funded by Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss.
DeWine on Thursday downplayed the idea that the foreign contribution ban would sink the proposal to get Biden on the ballot.
“I don’t know why this would be a poison pill,” DeWine said. “I’m not going to get into the merits on it other than to say that I think when you ask most Ohioans, they would think it’s a ridiculous situation that a foreign national can come in to the state of Ohio — or not even come in to the state of Ohio — and spend a significant amount to affect an Ohio ballot issue.”
After DeWine’s announcement, the Ohio Democratic Party chair, Elizabeth Walters, called on the state’s Republicans to “put politics aside and pass a clean bill to put Joe Biden on the ballot.”
Biden’s campaign has long expressed confidence that he will be on the ballot in all 50 states. Democrats initially floated “provisional” ballot certification as a possible solution, though LaRose and Alabama’s Republican secretary of state, Wes Allen, rejected the method.
The Ohio Senate convened Tuesday afternoon after the DNC’s announcement, and Democrats were quick to argue that the special session — with its controversial campaign finance proposal — was no longer necessary.
“We don’t want your fix, we don’t need your fix,” state Sen. Bill DeMora told his GOP colleagues, later adding, “This bill, as far as I’m concerned, is moot.”
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