Growing faction of Democrats revolt against Biden’s upcoming virtual nomination

Washington
CNN
 — 

A growing faction of House Democrats, convinced that President Joe Biden is too politically damaged to defeat Donald Trump in November, is calling on the Democratic National Committee to ditch plans to virtually nominate Biden in the coming weeks – setting up an extraordinary intraparty clash against Biden allies who are staging a quiet pressure campaign to accelerate the president’s formal nomination.

Democrats have been planning for weeks to conclude Biden’s nomination process before August 7 – well before the Chicago convention next month. But Rep. Jared Huffman, a progressive Democrat from California, told CNN on Tuesday that there is a “growing number of members” concerned about the virtual roll call vote, calling it a “terrible idea” and a “dumb thing.”

“If the election were held today, he would get crushed,” Huffman said of Biden. “We have got to do something about it.”

CNN has also learned from multiple sources of a draft letter circulating among House Democrats calling on the party to slow down the process – a clear sign of the party’s deep worries about Biden remaining at the top of their ticket.

The public and private airing of concerns come amid a push among some Biden allies to kick off Biden’s virtual roll call process as quickly as possible, according to six Democratic officials familiar with the discussions. Two key Democratic committees have long been set to gather this coming Friday and Sunday to discuss the exact timeline for delegates across the country to start casting their votes. The earliest that voting could begin would be after the second meeting on Sunday.

If voting were to begin Sunday or soon thereafter, that would mark an aggressive timeline – and the idea is already drawing fresh scrutiny from other Democrats eager for Biden to acknowledge his challenges and step aside.

“The disbelief that they’d expedite the nomination is as widespread as the recognition the DNC is leading Democrats into a house fire with water bottles,” one House Democrat said.

The DNC virtual roll call process was initially put in place for the party to step around an issue in Ohio that threatened to leave Biden off the ballot in that state. Lawmakers in Ohio have since passed a law to make that issue moot, but the DNC has pointed to the potential of a legal challenge by Ohio Republicans for moving forward with the virtual roll call anyway.

For Democrats who are afraid Biden will lose to Trump and take the Democratic ticket down with him, time is running out to make their case to the president, his family and a remarkably tight circle of advisers. But even as those entreaties are being made daily behind the scenes, plans are being…