Yesterday, someone said to me that Kamala Harris is not a legitimate candidate because a primary should have been held

[LuckyCharms]

after President Biden stepped aside.

What's my comeback to this statement?

[NewHendoLib]

1. Tell them to fuck off.

[OLDMDDEM]

15. I agree.

[orangecrush]

16. For me as well.

[Grins]

45. Similar, but: "Why? Were you going to vote for him?"

They were just picking fight.

[Jmb 4 Harris-Walz]

2. There are NO constitutional requirements for primaries....

[LuckyCharms]

8. Good. Thanks.

[DUgosh]

3. The correct response is

“Whatever”

[lastlib]

36. (followed by....

"Go f*ck a cactus." )

[Think. Again.]

4. That the Democratic party delegates voted for her?

[LuckyCharms]

5. This is good. Thanks.

[Bev54]

31. And it is up to the party to choose how they were going to pick a nominee.

I never heard of one person stepping up and saying they wanted the job.

[Sibelius Fan]

6. California v Jones

[GusBob]

7. "Smokey back rooms"

I think historically some candidates were choosing at the conventions in smoke-filled back room deals

The convention chooses the candidate not the primary

[Klarkashton]

9. Candidates are chosen at the convention. Case closed.

[Mz Pip]

10. My response

Republicans don’t need to concern themselves with how we got our candidate. Just watch us vote in November.

[BlueTsunami2018]

11. That the primaries were over.

That you voted for the Biden/Harris ticket. Which, of course, means that if anything happened to him, she takes over. He released the delegates, they voted for her. It was the natural order.

You can try to make them feel better by saying that they might have a point if it was an open primary but it wasn’t, the ticket was set.

[LauraInLA]

21. Exactly! In that scenario, what does this person think should have happened?

[MichMan]

32. I don't know how it was in your state, but in mine, her name wasn't on the ballot, just his

As the primary winner, he had every right to choose her or anyone else as his running mate.

The delegates voted based on party rules and she was selected as the candidate

[ProfessorGAC]

12. Primaries Are Not Required By The Constitution

Nothing in that document dictates how a party must select a candidate.
In fact, some founders thought political parties were a bad idea.
So, the party decides how they pick their candidate.
Finally, she's on the ballot. That makes her the democratic party's legitimate candidate.

[getagrip_already]

30. Some parties dont hold primaries at all...

They meet to vote on a candidate. One and done.

[msfiddlestix]

13. There was a primary, and Kamala was on that ticket. When we voted for Biden in the Primary, we also voted for Kamala

Folks do seem to forget that when they want to stir up poppycock on this matter.

[hlthe2b]

14. Every political party determines how their candidates are chosen and that includes substitutes

before the confirming convention. Not only was she (and Walz) confirmed THERE, but on the 50-state plus phone call confirmation the week before. No challenge was launched, albeit there were rules to allow for that.

Then tell them to go to HELL (twice!)

[Climate Crusader]

17. You could point out that

VP Harris ran for an executrive office in 2020 on the ticket with Biden and was elected, to then again be a part of that ticket in 2024. JD Vance, however, has never run for, or been elected to any executive office at any level from local mayor to the federal executive branch. The GOP never even held an authentic primary and no voter was allowed to cast a vote for or against him.

And as far as unelected goes...George Washington was appointed president for his first term, not elected (successfully re-elected), and Gerald Ford was sworn in as president although he never ran for election to the executive branch, but had served in the HOuse, then was appointed VP and that led to his very difficul time in the Oval Office.

[thucythucy]

18. How many primaries did George Washington win?

Simple answer: none.

So I guess our first president wasn't legitimate?

[wryter2000]

19. The DNC makes the rules about who they nominate

There's no requirement for a primary. They could do it by drawing straws, if they wanted to.

[Jirel]

20. That it's BS.

The parties can nominate anyone they want. Neither a primary nor a caucus is legally required. A party could literally change its rules entirely, as long as it followed its own process in doing so.

Parties have to deal with this halfway regularly, though generally not on the presidential level. Candidates not only withdraw, but die. Paul Wellstone was one famous example. The only restriction on who/how a major party candidate is shown on the ballot once selected by the party, are based on usually pretty simple state rules. One example of when a candidate can’t be changed on the ballot, is when they’re within a certain number of days of the beginning of voting, and the state has a cutoff because it won’t be able to update ballots (especially mail-in ballots and early voting). Then, the person who died/withdrew/was disqualified remains on the ballot and state rules will determine whether there will be a later special election, gubernatorial appointment, or whatever.

[Rocknation]

22. Biden resigned from the campaign, not the presidency.

If he'd resigned from his presidency, Harris would now BE president.


Rocknation

[keithbvadu2]

23. Reply::: So?

[unblock]

24. everything was done according to party rules and procedures. so how is it not "legitimate"?

it was an unusual situation, but it was done by the rules.

ask your someone if they have a better idea for a situation in which the leading candidate withdraws shortly before the convention?

running a brand new primary would have been expensive and impossible given ballot deadlines.

moreover, when we voted for "biden", we were actually voting for delegates initially pledged to biden. once biden withdrew, they were free to vote their conscience. given that the people had previously voted for the biden/harris ticket, accepting that harris should step in were anything to happen to biden, she was the obvious and logical choice.

finally, donnie is a f@cking insurrectionist and shouldn't be legally allowed to be president constitutionally, per the 14th amendment. the supremos didn't help on this note, but they didn't actually rule that he's allowed to be president, only that the states lack the authority to remove him from the ballot.

[Scrivener7]

25. Response: "You don't understand the rules for this very well, do you? Maybe brush up on them before

you embar- err, before you comment about them again."

[Torchlight]

26. Ask them to cite their source for the flawed assertion.

Five'll get you a hundred the reponse is "I dunno. I read/heard it somewhere...."

[Irish_Dem]

27. Translation: POC females are not legit candidates.

[FHRRK]

28. Fuck off!

And focus on fixing your side so convicts don't end up on the ballot.

[Janbdwl72]

29. Does this person understand how party primaries work and how the presidential candidates are selected?

I tried to tell a MAGAt this and he paid no attention and said I did not understand politics.

Obviously, he is the one who doesn't understand politics. I suppose you could try to explain it, if it's really worth the trouble, to this person, somewhat like this. If there is a simpler way to express it than what I indicate I the next paragraph, please use it. Just do whatever it takes to get the point across.

Voters go to to the polls in the primaries, select their candidates from those on the ballot and cast their votes. Each state's political party records and processes the votes and delegates who are pledged to the candidate who wins the state get to go to the national convention and select a nominee. Though they are pledged to a certain candidate, at the convention, any or all of these delegates can cast their votes for the candidate they prefer when at the party's national convention. That candidate may be the same one to whom these delegates were originally pledged, or as was the case this year, another candidate, if they choose to vote for that candidate at the convention.

[lees1975]

33. The Democratic party held a primary, with both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on the ticket.

Then he announced he wasn't running and endorsed her. She was on the ballot with him and as the VP candidate, got the same votes he did.

But the primary is only used to determine whose delegates are selected to the convention. The convention itself votes for the nominee.

[Freethinker65]

34. Democratic Voters understand that primaries elect delegates, not candidates, that go to the convention to pick nominee

Ms. Harris is the legitimate nominee because she ended up getting a majority of the delegates' votes at the Democratic convention.

The person asking the question doesn't really GAF about the nominating process. They asked the question to try to get you, and others, to stop supporting Harris/Walz.

I would say as a Democrat, I was extremely torn watching the process unfold, but understood that once a candidate pulls out of the race, his/her delegates can be released to vote for someone else. In this case, the delegates were previously committed to voting for Biden/Harris, so a switch Harris at the top of the ticket with new running mate was really a no brainer and nothing to get upset about process-wise.

If delegates would have voted as nominee someone other than Harris, I think there may have been some backlash. But even had that happened, the nominee still would have been the legitimate Democratic nominee.

[Dave Bowman]

35. Well, Lardo Loco is not a legitimate candidate because he's a senile criminal.

[apcalc]

37. Gerald Ford. Became prez without votes.

[Tree Lady]

38. She was already on the ticket

so people voted for her and knew Joe's age and that she might have to take over for him. That's what I say.

[ms liberty]

39. We voted overwhelmingly in the primaries, for a ticket: Biden/Harris

Harris has been his designated replacement since he picked her and we picked them in 2020. We voted for that ticket, and if he's not at the top, then it should be her.

[Skittles]

41. CORRECT

and honestly, a bad VP pick would cause some to not vote for the person running for President

when we vote for president we are well-aware the VP may AT ANY TIME be called in take over - you never know what will happen

[ms liberty]

47. Yes INDEED, Skittles!

[Skittles]

40. know what I would reply?

YOU SOUND SCARED

[Nevilledog]

42. You could make their heads explode by telling them the history of primaries

https://www.history.com/news/political-conventions-change

[Jack from Charlotte]

43. The Democratic Party's contingency rules that were in place.....

were all followed. All the delegates were polled and voted VP Harris in after President Biden resigned the nomination.

[pfitz59]

44. The parties choose their own candidates.

Primaries are nice, but not binding.

[dsc]

46. That no state in which gop cooperation was

Required would gave seen it. Even democratic states would have balked at the cost. NC just was told to reprint ballots that is going to cost 3 million by itself. That is 40 teachers at 75k per teacher. A whole election would have to be tens maybe even hundreds of millions. All to do what. If no one was willing to contest a convention who was going to embark on a weeks long primary against the only national figure we have

[andym]

48. A primary was held. Biden/Harris ticket won. Biden stepped aside allowing his running mate to take over

the delegates then approved her.