As the Democratic Party stares at a crossroads concerning Joe Biden and its presidential ticket, a pair of Democrats are proposing a unique solution: a blitz primary to identify a new nominee.
Rosa Brooks, a professor at Georgetown Law, devised a strategy to capitalize on the party’s precarious situation in the wake of Biden’s stumbling debate performance. She said she wants her fellow Democrats to know that “this crisis, like most crises, is also an opportunity.”
Her work alongside Ted Dintersmith, a venture capitalist and education philanthropist, has offered a solution she thinks can unite the party around a new presidential nominee for the August Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The proposal has Biden selflessly stepping down by mid-July in a “speech for the ages,” according to a memo reviewed by the Washington Examiner. Vice President Kamala Harris would then support his decision and back a blitz primary process, where candidates such as Harris make their pitch to voters as to why they should be the party’s nominee. The five to eight candidates with the most votes would pledge to run “positive-only” campaigns in the five or so weeks before the Democratic National Convention.
“The Democratic Party has a deep bench of potentially compelling candidates, and if given the opportunity to lay out their visions of the future, I think the Democratic Party could end up with an impressive and very electable ticket,” Brooks told the Washington Examiner.
“But that can only happen if President Biden is willing to pass the torch and bless an orderly and condensed process to identify a new nominee.”
Biden has faced immense pressure from within his own party to step down as their presidential candidate. While he has pledged to stay in the race, Democrats across the country are worried his doing so would all but ensure former President Donald Trump is reelected.