Biden says delegates can vote their conscience — and he’s right. But mass defections remain unlikely

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Thursday that his pledged delegates could vote their conscience — and he’s right, party rules say they can do just that. But historical precedent, as well as the delegate selection process, make it likely that the vast majority will stick with him anyway.

Biden said during his NATO press conference that delegates are “free to do whatever they want” at the Democratic National Convention, including nominate a different candidate. Shortly after, he mock-whispered into the microphone, “It’s not going to happen.”

On both counts, Biden’s assessment is likely accurate: DNC rules do technically leave room for “good conscience” to drive delegate decisions, yet they rarely abandon their pledged candidate. The vetting process for delegates also makes it unlikely that many would break from Biden unless he dropped out.

“I didn’t take that to be like, ’Oh, I’m letting the delegates decide someone else,” said Adam Peters, a 36-year-old Democratic delegate from Iowa who’s sticking with his pledge to support Biden. “I think he was just insinuating that if folks are so concerned, we’ll see what happens on the floor — but at the end of the day he’s the nominee.”

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At least 3,896 delegates are pledged to Biden, after he swept nearly every primary contest. But that “pledge” isn’t an ironclad agreement. DNC rules encourage but don’t specifically require delegates to vote for the candidate they’re pledged to support. Instead, the rules say, “All delegates to the National Convention pledged to a presidential candidate shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.”

In other words, delegates Biden won during the primary season are bound only by their consciences to actually cast their votes for Biden when it comes time to select a nominee, although mass defections would be unprecedented.

Democratic party rules also allow Democratic candidates to review and alter each state’s slate of delegates pledged to them, ensuring that they are filled by loyal supporters.

Louisiana delegate Brenda Ann Palmer, a retired school board employee, said that she liked Biden’s response to the question about delegates.

“He wants us to be with him, and he wants us to vote our conscience, and he’s not going to tell us we have to vote for him,” Palmer said, adding, “I haven’t changed my mind, I want him to be the nominee.”

Massachusetts delegate Mary Richards, who’s also still supporting Biden, echoed that sentiment. “I interpreted it as, we can make our own decisions,” she said.

There’s another group of delegates who may be less loyal, though there are fewer of them and party rules limit the power they have in deciding a nominee. Automatic delegates — or “superdelegates” — are not pledged to a candidate, and include Democratic members of Congress and other high-profile Democratic leaders.

After the 2016 primary, the DNC scaled back the role of automatic delegates so that in competitive primaries, they generally cannot vote in the first round of voting. Rather, the first round is reserved for the pledged delegates — though superdelegates may be able to vote in the first round if a candidate “has been certified by the DNC Secretary” to have obtained a majority.

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Associated Press writer Rob Yoon contributed to this report.