When and where is the 2024 Democratic National Convention? Can another candidate be chosen?

This year, the Democratic Party will host its convention in Chicago starting on the 19th of August and running through the 22nd.

Before Thursday’s debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, many assumed both men would secure the top spot on their tickets. Democratic Party voters, including some loyalists, have been warning for more than a year that the president may be unable to unite a winning coalition. These concerns have intensified since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October.

As of February, there was still support for Biden within the base. A poll conducted by Monmouth University found that sixty-two percent of Democrats described themselves as “very” or “somewhat enthusiastic” to vote for Biden. Nevertheless, half of voters believed that the president would be replaced at the convention in August. Additionally, in the 18 to 35 age demographic, a group the president cannot afford to lose, 79 percent say they are “not too” or “not enthusiastic at all” to vote for Biden. Although some of this disapproval could be attributed to young Republicans, the number of young conservatives is much smaller than the progressives and centrists who overwhelmingly supported President Biden in 2020.

However, President Biden’s poor performance has led to further deterioration of his support and sparked an uprising within the media that is typically sympathetic to Biden.

The Biden campaign, including the candidate, has responded to these concerns by acknowledging that the debate performance was not his best but reminding the public that Donald Trump represents a great threat to democracy and that they believe the president is in the best position to beat him. For prognosticators and political analysts who want to see Biden step down, the protection of his candidacy only affirms that the campaign may not be taking seriously how his performance threatens the Democrats this fall.

What are the rules for nominating a Democratic presidential candidate? Additionally, could Joe Biden be replaced even after the primaries have ended?

To answer the first question, we travel back to 2018 when the Democratic National Committee (DNC) changed the nomination process.

The true power of the superdelegates unmasked

One way a candidate can be unseated, even if they win the plurality of votes in the primary, is through the support of superdelegates, who are party officials and elected leaders. The power of ‘superdelegates’ was limited in 2018, following the 2016 convention where Sanders supporters accused the party of manipulating the results against the popular will.

During the 2016 Democratic Primary between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the DNC Chair, Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, defended the use of ‘superdelegates’ at the party’s convention. In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, the DNC Chair argued that superdelegates prevent “party leaders and elected officials” from being in a “position where they are running against grass-roots activists.” The remarks were seen as a clear attack on the Sanders campaign, which had nearly seized the nomination from one of the party’s most powerful leaders.

Limiting the power of superdelegates

In 2018, the DNC decided that superdelegates could only vote in a contested convention, meaning they are barred from participating on the first ballot. If a candidate is not elected on the first ballot, they would be allowed to vote, allowing them much power in determining the outcome, thus favoring establishment candidates like President Biden. Before the changes, the superdelegates were permitted to participate in the first ballot and vote for whoever they pleased (i.e., they were not tied to specific candidates based on the primary results, such as ‘pledged delegates’). Thus, superdelegates had a disproportionate say over who the nominee was. Although superdelegates’ votes have typically aligned with the popular vote since their introduction to the convention structure in 1984, there was no guarantee that this would always be the case.

The situation in 2024

At the DNC convention in August, should President Biden fail to receive the support needed to secure the nomination in the first round of voting, the superdelegates could help him get there or throw their support behind another candidate. Of the 4,521 delegates that will be present at the convention, President Biden will need to secure at least 1,976 pledged delegates. Through his performance during the primaries, he has amassed 3,894 pledged delegates. This means the chance of him being replaced at the convention is minimal, as the pledged delegates must vote according to the primary results.

However, one must consider that Biden ran mostly unopposed in the primaries. As the Democratic incumbent, it was his choice to seek another term, and challenging him would have broken with party etiquette. But now, with President Biden and many leaders within the party stating firmly that he will not step down, the party is left without many options, even if they believe he will lose to Donald Trump in November. The DNC’s power being used to dissuade party members who had a viable shot of beating President Biden in the primaries shows that long before the convention, the interworkings of the party protected its leader and incumbent. Now, with so many members of the Democratic Party worried that President Biden will not be able to beat Donald Trump, the question of whether or not the party should have intervened at an earlier stage is being raised as well.