I’m trying to find good articles to tell me who the replacement candidates are, and what are the complications with choosing one of these replacements at this late date. In this post, we’ll look at three potential candidates, and talk about the complications of changing candidates after the primary is already over.

Here’s the first article from Daily Signal.

First, what will happen at the convention?

Democrats already have held their primary elections across America. The result was a resounding victory for Biden in a virtually uncontested race. Their options are now limited.

The party can’t hold another primary and the Democratic National Convention, set to begin Aug. 19 in Chicago, is just around the corner.

[…]Biden’s 3,896 pledged convention delegates are free to vote for a replacement at the Democratic National Convention. The total number of Democratic delegates is 3,949, so the president had nearly all of them. If the delegates don’t reach a majority decision with 1,976 votes on a nominee, the party’s so-called superdelegates, over 700 of them, will decide who to nominate.

Superdelegates are party leaders, and the list typically consists of officeholders and former officeholders.

That convention process leaves the field open in a limited sense. To get into the running at the convention, a candidate would have to receive over 300 signatures from delegates. Only a maximum of 50 delegates may come from individual state delegations.

The article mentions California governor Gavin Newsom, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, and vice president Kamala Harris. They think that Harris is the most likely candidate to replace Biden, and they note that she is polling well against him:

A CBS/YouGov poll reported last week that Trump leads Harris 51% to 48% in a hypothetical match-up by popular vote. But Forbes reports that the Democratic polling firm Bendixen & Amandi showed Harris could beat Trump 42% to 41%.

Harris has early endorsements from Biden himself, and the Clintons, and she has easier access to Biden’s election campaign money. If she is the nominee, then she gets all of the $91 million.

This editorial from Fox News explains:

If Kamala Harris becomes the Democrat Party presidential nominee, does she get access to the campaign cash?

Yes, because when the Biden for President committee filed its registration statement with the FEC, it registered itself as the “principal campaign committee” for both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

If someone other than Kamala Harris becomes the presidential nominee, can that individual access the $91.5 million for his or her presidential campaign?

No, under FEC regulations, the new nominee would have no access to or control over the Biden for President campaign cash. Biden for President would be limited to giving no more than a $2,000 contribution to the new presidential nominee’s campaign committee.

Could the funds be transferred to the Democratic Party?

Yes, under FEC regulation 11 CFR 113.2, there is no limit on the transfer of funds from a candidate committee to party committees. Biden for President could, therefore, transfer all of its cash to the Democratic National Committee, Democratic congressional and senatorial committees, and state and local party committees, which could then use the money to support their federal, state and local candidates. Additionally, pursuant to the regulation, it could make donations to “State and local candidates subject to the provisions of State law.”

However, because political party committees have expenditure limits (a vestige of the 1970s post-Watergate federal campaign finance reforms), the DNC is limited in the amount of its expenditures that it is permitted to make in coordination with the new nominee’s campaign committee.

For the 2024 campaign, the limit is $32.4 million. A party committee could make independent expenditures regarding the presidential campaign, but it could not make unlimited coordinated expenditures of the newly transferred funds.

The article also notes all the money could be sent to Democrat SuperPACs, but there cannot be any coordination between them and the new nominee’s campaign.

I scanned some articles from the secular left news sites, and they seemed to think that Harris was going to be the nominee. I guess we’ll find out on August 19th. If they go with her, then they won’t have to change the names on all the state ballots. But if they choose someone else, there could be problems changing the name.