AMES, Iowa — According to the AP and CNN, Kamala Harris now has enough delegates to secure the Democratic presidential nomination.
Forty of those are from Iowa, after the Iowa Democratic Party pledged to give all of its delegates to Harris on Monday. At a normal Democratic National Convention, delegates would pick the candidate the majority of people voted for in the primary election.
Now that Joe Biden has dropped out of the race, however, it’s largely up to each individual state’s Democratic Party and the National Democratic Party to unite delegates behind a single candidate.
“When a candidate drops out of the race, then delegates that were committed to them are then free to vote their conscience,” Iowa State University professor Karen Kedrowski said.
Delegates will either choose Harris at a virtual roll call vote on Wednesday, August 7 or at the Democratic National Convention on Monday, August 19. One way or another, a simple majority is needed.
“How each state decides to do things will vary,” Iowa State University assistant professor Kelly Winfrey said. “I think there will likely be efforts to make those unified, because you don't want to have a lot of people going in different directions.”
If Harris doesn’t get the nomination at the virtual roll call vote, there’s a chance the convention could become an open convention.
“The last time that we had an incumbent president who withdrew, shortly before a convention, it was Lyndon Johnson in 1968,” Kedrowski said. “That led to a very, very heated convention.”
An open convention means delegates can basically choose whatever candidate they’d like, even someone who has never expressed interest in running.
“There are some processes like that somebody would have to agree to put somebody's name in nomination place, their name and nomination in a second,” Kedrowski said. “Usually that kind of theater is fairly easy to script.”
Given the chaos that could come with an open convention, experts believe Harris will likely get the nomination before the convention.
“You don't want to have your party fighting amongst themselves instead of against the person that they're going to be running again against in less than 100 days,” Winfrey said.
Another reason Harris could secure the nomination ahead of the convention is that some states need to know the party’s pick by Aug. 9 for that name to appear on the ballot.
If Harris does get it, she’ll have until the convention to pick a running mate.