A new plan to give the Democrats a “blitz primary” to replace President Joe Biden as the party’s nominee is making the rounds.
A report Sunday from Semafor said Rosa Brooks, a Georgetown University law professor who was in the Obama and Clinton administrations and advised Biden in 2020, and Ted Dintersmith, a venture capitalist and philanthropist, were behind the concept.
“In the midst of malaise and crisis, we can forge an uplifting path,” Dintersmith told the outlet.
The plan would call for Biden to abandon his campaign in the next few days, according to a memo outlining the idea that was shared with Semafor.
The president, with backing from Vice President Kamala Harris, would announce the new system.
Potential nominees would have a brief period to decide whether to run in the “blitz primary.” The six candidates who received the most votes from delegates would wage a fight for the nomination while promising to run positive campaigns.
Weekly forums with A-list moderators such as Michelle Obama, Taylor Swift and Oprah Winfrey would give the candidates a chance to speak on the issues.
Through ranked-choice voting, a nominee would be selected in time for the Aug. 19 start of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Biden would be hailed as a “modern-day George Washington” for stepping aside, according to the memo.
Will Biden be the Democratic nominee when it’s all said and done?
“We can limp to shameful, avoidable democracy-ending defeat. Or Democrats can make this Our Finest Hour. While we hope for help from Lord Almighty, the Lord helps those who help themselves,” the memo said, an allusion to the president’s comment that only the “Lord Almighty” could make him drop out. “We need to act. Now.”
The Biden campaign told Semafor that the president has no plans to abandon his campaign.
Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York said in a post on X that Democrats are hurting themselves by turning on Biden.
“Weakening a weakened nominee seems like a losing strategy for a presidential election,” he said. “The piling-on is not so much solving a problem as much as it is creating and compounding one.”
Regardless of where one stands on the question of President Biden’s political future, the intra-party mixed messaging strikes me as deeply self-destructive.
Those publicly calling on President Biden to withdraw should ask themselves a simple question: what if the President…
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) July 8, 2024
Meanwhile, Biden said Monday that “the elites in the party” were trying to push him out.
“Run against me. Go ahead. Announce for president. Challenge me at the convention,” the president said in an MSNBC interview.
“Challenge me at the convention.”
MSNBC Exclusive: President Biden says he is frustrated by the “elites in the party” who claim he should step aside. “Run against me. Go ahead.” pic.twitter.com/VGnsfxEY4Q
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 8, 2024
Biden claimed he had been all over the country since the debate to “make sure my instinct was right about the party still wanting me to be the nominee.”
“I’m not going anywhere … I wouldn’t be running if I didn’t absolutely believe that I am the best candidate to beat Donald Trump in 2024,” he said.
