Idaho Democrats are brushing up on their role during the upcoming Democratic National Convention now that President Biden is dropping out of the race.
State Democratic Party Chair, Lauren Necochea, said she wasn’t sure what the president would ultimately decide to do as members of his own party increasingly pressed him to abandon his re-election bid.
She called his choice to step aside as “selfless.”
“I think he wants to make sure there are no distractions in the coming days and that Democrats are 100% focused on winning the White House,” Necochea said.
Biden won Idaho’s Democratic caucus in May with 95% support and all 23 delegates were bound by rule to vote for him at the DNC.
But Necochea said she’s not immediately sure how the president’s exit affects this.
“I think in the coming days, I know I and others will be studying the process that didn’t seem like it was going to be relevant.”
Necochea and three other state Democratic leaders account for the other four Idaho delegates going to the convention and can vote for whomever they choose.
That’s only if Biden’s endorsed successor, Vice President Kamala Harris, faces a challenger in Chicago next month.
“We have a lot of proven Democratic leaders who can do the job ably who are not felons who have tried to overturn an election or undo the Affordable Care Act or cut Social Security and Medicare,” Necochea said.
Any challenger would need to collect signatures from 300 of the roughly 4,500 delegates attending the convention in August in order to be considered.
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