I asked several delegates from the District, Maryland and Virginia how they plan to make their decision, and while none of them are ready to vote for anyone other than Biden yet, they all have different views on their duties.
What does political independence mean in this context? Although the delegates are party loyalists, many of them have spent the past eight years blaming the Republican Party for not demonstrating independence from Donald Trump, especially those Republicans who privately (and sometimes publicly) say Trump is terrible.
Now many Democrats are facing their own conundrum: They learned last week that the man they swore to support will have a very hard time staying in the job for another four years. Whether it’s in Chicago next month or the virtual roll calls planned this month to ensure Biden appears on state ballots and quell rumors that he will be replaced, are they now being called upon to demonstrate some independence?
For Troy Donte Prestwood, a communications consultant and representative for Washington’s 8th District, a trying night watching the president communicate nothing but his declining competence wasn’t enough to change his decision to vote for Biden, but it did force him to think things through.
“Given his performance in the debate last week, it’s natural that people were going to say, ‘Are you sure?'” said Prestwood, who was attending his second convention, “But our concerns were quickly allayed, because we know who Joe is. We know Joe has a speech impediment. Joe is 81 years old. This is Joe Biden. So I wasn’t upset, but of course I would have liked him to try harder.”
For Prestwood, being selected as a Biden delegate means promising to vote for Biden “unless something extraordinary happens.” What that might be? “Obviously, if Joe Biden leaves office, we’re free to nominate somebody else.” But absent that, Prestwood is sticking with his slate of candidates.
The convention rules state that delegates must vote for who they have pledged to support “according to their conscience.” The way I read that language, this is not an absolute requirement and delegates’ consciences can lead to changes. The party simply expects them to vote for who they have been elected to support unless there is a fundamental change.
Carol Lieber, a delegate from Arlington, supported Biden’s 2020 presidential bid because she believes he represents the best chance to bring some unity back to a deeply divided country. She is supporting Biden because she has no doubt about his abilities and believes his commitments are essentially binding.
“To me, a pledge is a commitment,” Lieber said. “My moral code tells me I have to support Joe Biden.”
Lieber, a 25-year federal human resources official, said she was uneasy about the Biden-Trump debate, mainly because “there was no fact-checking by the moderator.” Biden’s lumps and ramblings didn’t seem to her like evidence of a slow, struggling president, but rather “someone trying to find words without stuttering.”
Lieber said that even if he concluded that Biden was not fit for the job, he would not change his nominee and would step down. “I feel very strongly that if I don’t keep my promises, I have no choice but to step down,” Lieber told me. “I have a replacement delegate.”
Across the Potomac River in Silver Spring, Jeanelle Wilkins is a convention delegate and Maryland state representative who plans to support Biden unless he instructs his supporters otherwise.
“I’ve never had a voter contact me asking me to change the candidate,” she said. “Joe Biden was a force for good for three and a half years. I’ve been through some tough debates as a public official, but I’m glad he wasn’t abandoned. You can’t be president in an hour and a half.”
Charles Wilson, chairman of the Washington, D.C. Democratic Party and a delegate, said he was “very concerned” about Biden’s performance in the debate. “We’re all concerned,” he said. “His advisors should have postponed the debate. But we all have the full support of Joe Biden. He did a fantastic job.”
These delegates and others I spoke to believe Biden has saved the country from the corruption and cynicism of a second Trump term. Out of gratitude, loyalty and fear of the damage a Trump presidency might do, they are even supporting the Biden they saw in the debates.
They’re not blinded by the president’s decline, but they’re also not willing to do anything about it. Call it denial, call it loyalty, call it failure to recognize how unpopular their candidate is. Whatever you call it, don’t expect to see any independence on display in Chicago.
