Former White House press secretary and MSNBC host Jen Psaki said Sunday on the network’s coverage of President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race that the Democratic Party will run a process with the “goal” of making Vice President Kamala Harris look strong while “technically” leaving room for other candidates.
Psaki said, “The DNC and the Democratic Party has to run — they’re going to run a process, is my understanding. And the process is going to be the goal of it is to make the vice president look strong and be strong at the end of the process. So, that means that’s what we are going to see over the next couple of days, we are learning a lot more about what that looks like.”
Co-host Rachel Maddow said, “What kind of a process? I mean, like a competition?”
Psaki said, “Well, I know, a competition — this is the thing that is a little — I’m going to say it is a little strange and we will see how this works out, but what I mean by that is there has to be a process for the delegates to be able to vote to support, whether it is the vice president or someone else. Now, I will say the party is lining up clearly behind Vice President Harris, not just the president, but senators, virtually anyone would possibly run against her has endorsed her, but a process would mean it allows delegates to be able to support her or another candidate.”
She added, “Now, candidates have to meet a certain threshold. That threshold is about 300 delegates, only the maximum of 50 from each state so, any candidate who wants to compete with Vice President Harris would need to meet that threshold in a short period of time. Could others get in? I guess technically, but the whole apparatus, the Biden apparatus, the Clinton apparatus, and I think largely, even though it is not publicly, the Obama apparatus, are all aligning behind Harris. But there is a feeling by some, including reportedly former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Obama, that there needs to be an opportunity for delegates to be able to voice their view here, even if the outcome is very, very likely going to be Vice President Harris, as it should be.”
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