In yesterday’s, not a joke piece, Philip Bump answers the unwelcome question, what if?
Philip Bump, WAPO piece
What if candidates fall ill before the nominating conventions?
What if a nominee contracts Covid-19 after the convention?
Seriously informative read.
It’s worth asking the uncomfortable question that this raises: What if one of the candidates becomes incapacitated and can’t run? The answer is that it depends on when that might happen. But before we get to that, let’s answer another, less grim question. Will there be conventions?
Will there be conventions?
What if the nominee is incapacitated? So let’s say we’ve gone through the convention, whatever it looks like, and Davis and Robinson have started bashing each other day after day as the main candidates for the presidency. But then, unexpectedly, one or both contracts the virus and is out of commission. What then?
Yes, both parties have straightforward rules in place
Edit: I forgot the paywall so adding more details.
We’ll see. While the Democratic rules stipulate that votes can’t be cast by proxy (probably meaning a required change to the rules should the convention not happen), the Republican rules indicate that, if the convention can’t be held, “the roll call for nomination for President of the United States and Vice President of the United States shall be allowed to be conducted according to procedures authorized by the Republican National Committee.”
Candidate gets sick before convention
the Democrat, things are pretty straightforward. As when a candidate drops out, the delegates Davis had earned would largely be reallocated to other candidates.
What if the nominee is incapacitated
The Democrats have actually been through this recently, at least in theory. When Hillary Clinton fell ill late in the 2016 cycle, acting DNC chair Donna Brazile began a process aimed at potentially replacing her on the ballot. In a book published in 2017, Brazile explained her thinking. Her picks for replacing the Democratic ticket? Biden and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). The party’s rules again give the party itself a lot of leeway. “In the event of death, resignation or disability of a nominee of the Party for President or Vice President after the adjournment of the National Convention,” they state, “the National Chairperson of the Democratic National Committee shall confer with the Democratic leadership of the United States Congress and the Democratic Governors Association and shall report to the Democratic National Committee, which is authorized to fill the vacancy or vacancies