Updated at 7:43 p.m. on July 21, 2024.
President Joe Biden has quit the 2024 election, leaving the Democratic Party with roughly a month to replace him with a new nominee.
That decision will be made by roughly 4,600 people who will serve as delegates to the Democratic National Convention in August, including 87 people from Colorado.
Until now, 72 of those delegates were bound to support Biden, who won the Democratic presidential primary in the state, while the remaining 15 delegates were not pledged to any candidate.
But now, with Biden’s departure from the race, all his delegates nationwide are free to support any other candidate.
That has created a new focus on the delegates, a group of people that includes party activists and prominent elected officials. All of them, suddenly, have a voice in an extraordinary political moment.
Typically, the candidate who wins the most delegates through the primaries and caucuses becomes the presumptive nominee. But with Biden leaving the race, Democrats will have an open convention — the first since 1968. The Democratic party does not have rules or plans in place for what to do if the presumptive nominee withdraws. It has left delegates — and everyone else — wondering how the process will play out.
“I expect that we will hear from the vice president and potentially any other candidate for president very shortly, individually and as a delegation,” said Paul Rosenthal, a Colorado delegate and former state lawmaker.
Biden has already endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the nominee, and momentum was building for her Sunday among Colorado delegates.
Colorado Rep. Joe Neguse, who serves as the Assistant Minority Leader of the House, also backed Harris. Neguse said Harris is “a dedicated public servant and trailblazer who has delivered real progress for the people of our country.” (Neguse is an automatic delegate, formerly known as a superdelegate, which means he was free to vote for any candidate even before Biden dropped out.)
Many Democrats came out in support of Harris in the wake of Biden's announcement, including Democratic Reps. Jason Crow, Brittany Pettersen and Diana DeGette. DeGette said Harris is a “proven pro-choice champion who will fight for reproductive rights.”
And by the end of the day, all of the state’s Democratic Representatives, Gov. Jared Polis and Senator Michael Bennet had signaled their support for Harris.
Shad Murib, the chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, said he expects the State Central Committee will make a decision on endorsing Harris, saying they “will have an opportunity to chime in on their support.” It would also give Colorado delegates some direction.
Murib doesn’t think undecided delegates will need much convincing to support Harris, noting the accomplishments of the Biden administration, from designating Camp Hale a National Monument to keeping Space Command Headquarters in Colorado, happend with Harris by his side.
But other prominent Democrats, including former President Barack Obama and reportedly, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, want to see an open, competitive process. That could include an “open convention” next month, where Harris and any other candidates would work to secure the votes of thousands of delegates to become the Democratic nominee.
An open convention could be messy and chaotic, but Celeste Landry, another Colorado delegate, thought it could present “healthy competition.”
“I care a lot about elections and voting. I’m not going to rush into anything,” said Landry, who was still thinking through the situation.
Colorado Democrats held a large virtual meeting on Sunday afternoon so party officials could brief the delegates, state central committee members and presidential electors. Party officials did not formally back Harris, but noted that she would likely have strong support, attendees of the meeting said. Numerous people in the meeting made written comments supporting Harris, according to people who were in the meeting.
Rosenthal will be making his third appearance as a delegate at the DNC next month.
“Obviously, this is highly unusual,” he said. He was leaning toward Harris, and suggested that the party may nominate her even before the convention.
“That means we go into the convention united, together, to win in November,” he said.
Wanda James, an elected delegate who serves as a University of Colorado Regent for CD1, said she is backing Harris.
“I think it should be her, absolutely hands down, no doubt,” she said. “Harris is battle-tested. The war chest belongs to her.”
While James has questions about how the party plans to move forward. She wants to see a nominee in place swiftly, and said she’s excited that this is an opportunity “to show the world what American democracy is all about.”
Delegate Alex Apodaca-Cobell supports Harris. “I think she’s far and away the most qualified and best to make the case against Trump, which is also the smoothest possible transition we could have, and I find her to be incredibly inspiring,” he said, noting that it was a “very exciting” but “topsy-turvy” day.
For delegate Rudy Gonzales, party unity is of the utmost importance at this time, saying this news comes at the 11th hour. “We need to unify, that’s my personal thought,” he said. Because Biden has backed Harris, Gonzales said he will too, and he urges other delegates to do so.
Still, if it’s an open process, “that’s what conventions are built on, so long as we can come together within that week,” he said.
But not everyone is ready to move on.
Delegate Terry Lopez said she’s frustrated by everything that has happened.
“It feels to me that our votes are being disregarded,” Lopez said. “We were elected and pledged to Joe Biden and to hear our leaders — it felt like they were abandoning (Biden) when we needed them to stand up the most.”
Biden dropped out after weeks of pressure from elected Democrats and fundraisers and others to do so. For Lopez, it seemed to show that the Democratic Party, which has been defending the election system for years, was now not standing by “those votes.”
Lopez said she was surprised by the announcement. About 10 minutes before Biden made his announcement on Sunday she received a phone call from the campaign assuring her Biden was still in the race.
And while she’d like to back Harris, since Biden endorsed her and she was on the ballot as his running mate, she’s worried about what’s to come. The Democratic infighting that led Biden to drop out could hurt any eventual candidate, including Harris, she said.
“I think that now that this has happened and they attacked (Biden) so badly, I don’t see them not attacking Harris. And I don’t see the people rallying to the extent they should. I mean, I hope they do. I hope they come out stronger.”
But she said the big question now is about the next steps.
“I think we should be told right now. What are the rules? What is the plan? What are our options as delegates?” she said. Those are answers the party should have prepared already, she added.
