WASHINGTON — One thing hasn’t changed now that President Joe Biden is no longer seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination: Democratic convention delegates remain free to vote for whomever they want to be their party’s nominee, regardless of the results of the primary.
The only command to delegates under current convention rules is to “in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.” After a primary process in which Biden won virtually every contest and faced no true opposition, those “sentiments” were easy to predict.
Now, that means those Democratic delegates can do whatever they want, as Biden himself acknowledged this month answering a question from a reporter during his NATO news conference.
“Obviously they’re free to do whatever they want,” he said.
Biden’s campaign played a big role in picking the delegates, choosing supporters for their loyalty. So it’s likely that Biden’s endorsement of Harris will have some sway with these members. But it’s not a directive.
That flexibility has been the case since the 1984 convention, Democratic rules expert Elaine Kamarck, who is also the director of the Center for Effective Public Management at the Brookings Institution, said on NBC News’ “The Chuck Toddcast” last week.
During the 1980 convention, Kamarck said, delegates were not able to vote their consciences, which frustrated supporters of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, who wanted to “free the delegates.” At the time, delegates were bound to certain candidates on the first ballot (the majority to then-President Jimmy Carter), and pro-Kennedy forces were unsuccessful at changing the rules. But before the party’s next convention, Kamarck said, “very quietly” the language was changed to add that new freedom.
It’s different on the Republican side, which is why there has been some confusion about the freedom Democratic delegates had. Republican rules bind delegates to a nominee for a certain number of roll call votes, depending on state party rules. Any vote that violates those state party binding rules “shall not be recognized.”
