Joe Biden Calls for Democratic Convention to Be Delayed Because of Coronavirus
In the latest potential disruption to the 2020 political season, former vice president Joe Biden has called for his party’s convention, scheduled in Milwaukee on July 13 to 16, to be moved forward by a month.
“I doubt whether the Democratic convention is going to be able to be held in mid July, early July,” the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party told Jimmy Fallon Wednesday on The Tonight Show. “I think it’s going to have to move into August.”
Biden’s statement appeared relatively spontaneous: Fallon had not asked Biden a question about the timing of the convention; the former vice president, in a remote interview from his home in Wilmington, Delaware, was responding to a question about how the rapidly growing coronavirus pandemic might affect the election. But a day earlier, in an interview with MSNBC’s Brian Williams, Biden had tipped his hand after being asked whether he thought party leaders would decide to go ahead with their nominating convention as scheduled.
“It’s hard to envision that,” Biden said. “We ought to be able—we were able to do it in the middle of the Civil War all the way through to World War II, have Democratic and Republican conventions and primaries and elections and still have public safety. And we’re able to do both. But the fact is it may have to be different.” (Update: On Thursday, the Democratic National Committee announced it was officially moving its convention to the week of Aug. 17. It will still be held in Milwaukee.)
In an interview with the New York Times on Monday before Biden’s comments, Joe Solmonese, the chief executive of the Democratic National Convention, said that he had six to eight weeks before any decisions must be made about moving the convention.
“Providing an opportunity for our candidate to reaffirm our democratic values, unify the party, and share his vision for a safer and stronger future for our country has never before felt more important,” Solmonese told the Times. “As we continue to put plans in place for a successful Democratic National Convention this summer, we will balance protecting the health and well-being of convention attendees and our host city with our responsibility to deliver this historic and critical occasion.” (On Wednesday, Wisconsin officials announced that 200 new cases of coronavirus had been confirmed, the largest single-day jump in the state since testing began.)
The Republican National Convention is scheduled to be held from August 24 to 27 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Meanwhile, 15 states have pushed back the dates for their primary elections in the Democratic nominating process, with Connecticut and Pennsylvania recently joining eight other states for a vote on June 2 and West Virginia moving from May 12 to June 9.
And what of the general election, now scheduled for Tuesday, November 3?
When asked by Williams about whether there was a possibility that the general election might also have to be delayed or postponed, Biden said that he thought that more states would need to put in place laws that would allow remote voting. Still, he said that he doubted that the election date itself would have to be moved.
“There’s no rationale for eliminating or delaying the election,” Biden said.
Originally Appeared on Vogue
