As Democrats look for ways to retain control of the national agenda, it appears that the chairman of the Democratic National Committee has a full plate of crow to eat on the White House china: He’s been parroting the party line that President Joe Biden is competent, in spite of evidence to the contrary.
While in Juneau for the Alaska Democratic Party’s state convention in late May, DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison told the state’s top Democrats that because of ranked-choice voting, Biden “really has a chance to win this state.”
Like Rep. Mary Peltola, Harrison was repeating the lie that Biden is fit for duty as the leader of the free world.
Most polling shows Republican Donald Trump beating Biden in Alaska by at least 8 points, and that was before the disastrous debate with Trump on June 27. Since then, the polling shows Biden is tanking with voters across the country — Republican, Democrat, and swing voters are all losing confidence in him. The only practical way Biden could win is if Trump didn’t get over 50% of the first-round vote in Alaska’s November General Election, and if Trump voters chose Biden as their second choice, which is highly unlikely.
Trump won over Biden in 2020, 53-43. without ranked-choice voting in place.
Harrison has not responded to the request by at least one member of the DNC that the party consider the practical process for replacing Biden as the head of the ticket. James Zogby, senior member of the Democratic National Committee, said he wants to see “a unified, energized party with a lot of excitement because they were part of a historic process of change.” Zogby is president of the Arab American Institute. The process would begin with Biden dropping out, he said.
That may mean an open nomination process at the Democratic National Convention, which is just six weeks away.
Convention delegates, some pledged and some unpledged, cast votes during the convention until a candidate secures the 1,976 votes needed to secure the party nomination. Through the primary and caucus process at the state level, Biden has nearly 4,000 votes, as he is the presumed nominee.
According to Morning Consult, a polling company, a bulk of Democratic voters nationwide now say Biden should be replaced at the top of the ticket. Just 37% of voters say Biden is mentally fit, down 6 percentage points from a survey conducted just before the June 27 debate. Among Democratic voters, 68% say Biden is mentally fit, down 9 points from before the debate. Both numbers are the lowest on record since Morning Consult began asking the question in 2020. Read more at Morning Consult.
On July 3, Party Chairman Harrison wrote, “It was so great to see and hear from POTUS & VP! They are focused on winning this race! #StillRidingWithBiden.”
He also wrote, “Just pump the brakes. Polls and debates… if polls were the final say and debates were so definitive y’all would be calling me Senator right now. Stay Unified… Stay Focused (and good grief some of y’all should Stay Off [television] to Beat Donald Trump! #StillRidingWithBiden24.”
The next day, Harrison seemed to contradict himself by reposting the thoughts of a Democrat Party ally: “Biden’s age and poor debate showing is obviously a legit story, but what we’ve seen over the last week is a hysterical feeding frenzy aimed at some combination of self-vindication, settling old scores, claiming a scalp, and the desire of some in the media to have Trump back in power. If Biden can’t campaign he should consider passing the torch, but the elite press (and especially the NYT) is desperately trying to will this into existence. And it’s really gross.”
