Former Vice President Joe Biden says he does not believe there will be a Democratic National Convention in July even though the Democratic National Committee is insisting that the show will go on in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as planned.
“It’s hard to envision that,” Biden told MSNBC, referring to a full-scale arena convention with thousands of attendees. “Again, we should listen to the scientists.”
The Democratic National Convention was deliberately scheduled to take place before the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo; that gathering is now postponed until at least 2021. Other major summer events, like the Wimbeldon tennis tournament, are now being canceled pending further information on the coronavirus outbreak.
Biden predicts a smaller scale operation, perhaps even some sort of “conference call” to announce the 2020 Democratic presidential contender.
“We ought to be able to do, we were able to do in the middle of a 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,” he said.
The DNC says it has not yet made a call on whether or not it will hold its convention and that it is considering a range of “contingency plans” that could include a digital meetup.
The DNC 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,” the group told CNN in response to Biden’s claims. “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.”
A second “convention aide” told CNN that, “Biden’s full remarks are in line with the convention’s contingency planning efforts that center on following the guidance of health officials and prioritizing the health and safety of all attendees and our host community.”
The Republican National Committee expressed similar sentiments last week. Their convention, though, takes place in late August, well after the Democratic National Convention.
Biden’s concerns might be better focused on the primary contest rather than the Democratic convention. With most coronavirus lockdowns now extended into May, many states have postponed their primary contests indefinitely, and it is possible that Biden won’t get enough delegates by the July 13th convention date to secure the nomination outright.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told Seth Meyers on Monday that he is staying in the race because he and his team see a “narrow path” to victory in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, and it’s likely this “narrow path” relies entirely on a lack of primary contests between now and July 13th.
Biden, like other Democrats, is also concerned about November voting and believes that Congress should press for an electronic or universal vote-by-mail option so that voters don’t have to risk their health to cast a ballot. Republicans have, so far, opposed such measures, suggesting that Democrats would use widespread absentee voting as a way of upending the electoral process.
“This is about making sure that we’re able to conduct our democracy while we’re dealing with a pandemic,” Biden said. “We can do both.”