The 2024 presidential race has steered into uncharted waters and the Wyoming Democratic Party is playing a small role in trying to move the party forward in the race.
“This is all unchartered territory, no one is sure,” said state Rep. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie, a Wyoming delegate for the Democratic National Convention. “This is not what I expected when I signed up to be a delegate.”
On Monday night, the state party’s 17 delegates for the Democratic National Convention were scheduled to discuss how they should proceed after President Joe Biden’s historic announcement Sunday that he was ending his 2024 reelection campaign.
Chestek said very little has been discussed among the delegates except moving up a meeting to consider options to Monday night.
“If there are different opinions, we need to all discuss them,” said Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, another delegate and state House minority floor leader.
Tricky Times
Along with every other state party, the Wyoming Democratic Party had already selected its delegates for the national convention and all were fully backing Biden when he made his announcement on Sunday. Now, the party members must decide whether they will back Vice President Kamala Harris or another candidate before the national convention on Aug. 19.
“Our intention is to reflect the will of the voters,” Yin said. “If Biden is no longer the candidate, we should still do what the people want. The delegation wants to be accountable and do what’s best for Wyoming.”
Democratic leaders have already started coalescing around Harris as the party’s new nominee. She has received endorsements from Biden and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California.
Biden has mostly transferred his campaign over to Harris, but he will still have to release his delegates in order for her to get them.
“When Biden releases his delegates, they become free agents,” Chestek said. “You can’t just hand those over to anybody.”
Yin said it’s not surprising no other contenders have entered the race to challenge Harris.
More than 700 pledged delegates have already told the Associated Press or announced that they plan to support Harris at the convention, which is over one-third of the pledged delegates she needs to clinch the nomination. Democratic National Committee rules most recently set 1,976 pledged delegates as the benchmark to win the nomination.
“There’s only a certain amount of time left in the race before the election, how much time do we want to spend figuring out who are nominee is versus running a campaign for the election?” Yin questioned.
No Other Choices Yet
Certain leading Democrats are withholding their endorsements, and Yin said he isn’t fully supporting Harris until he knows whether there will be any other Democratic contenders in the race. As of Monday afternoon, no serious names had been filed.
Chestek said he’s not ready to commit to Harris, but he has been “impressed” with her, so far.
“If no other candidate files, I'll be a happy man,” he said.
For any kind of real drama to take place in the nomination process, another major candidate would have to enter.
If another contender does enter, one of the most important questions delegates around the country will have to decide is whether to vote on a presidential nominee before or at the convention. The DNC had planned to hold a video conference on Aug. 1 for a roll call vote before Biden elected to end his campaign.
Until another candidate enters their name in the field, Harris will be considered as the presumptive nominee.
“Only one person has stepped up to the plate,” Cheyenne Democrat Jason Bloomberg said. “Anybody could step up to the plate- they’ve chosen not to.”
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
