Number of delegates reached: Biden passes threshold for candidacy for president

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It is just a formality: Joe Biden (81) will become the official Democratic presidential candidate. He now has enough votes from the delegates. This is evident from counts by the American broadcasters CNN and NBC after Biden’s victory in the primaries in the state of Georgia on Tuesday evening (local time). Because Biden has no serious competition in his party, it was considered certain that the 81-year-old would be the Democratic nominee. He will be officially nominated at a party conference in August.

Biden exceeded the necessary threshold of 1,968 delegate votes on Tuesday evening. In all likelihood, he will face Republican Donald Trump in the November 5 elections. The former American president is not yet mathematically certain of the required delegate votes. But here too, due to the lack of competition and given Trump’s victory in the primaries, there is no doubt that he will get the necessary votes and be chosen as his party’s candidate. This is expected in Germany on Wednesday evening.

Official nomination only in summer

Anyone who wants to become a presidential candidate in the United States must first win the internal party votes in the various states. The Democrats will then officially choose their candidate in Chicago in the summer.

Delegates usually must adhere to the voting results in the primaries and cannot simply choose a different candidate. The so-called superdelegates – Democratic party officials who get to vote in the candidate selection and are beholden to no one – are unlikely to play a role this year. You can only vote if the voting takes place in a second round. This is considered impossible.

In the primaries on Tuesday evening, Democrats and Republicans voted in the states of Georgia, Mississippi and Washington, among others. A week earlier, Biden and Trump had made significant gains on the important election day ‘Super Tuesday’. Then Trump’s last remaining opponent, Republican Nikki Haley, dropped out.

In addition to Biden, the Democrats also lead the largely unknown writer Marianne Williamson – the 71-year-old is in the polls at an average of just under four percent and has not yet won a single delegate vote. The entrepreneur Jason Palmer surprisingly managed to secure three delegate votes in the US territory of American Samoa, but, like Williamson, is not a serious competitor for Biden.

Biden and age

Biden is still not without controversy in his party. The 81-year-old is the oldest American president of all time. At the beginning of a second term he would be 82 and at the end of his presidency 86. His old age is a major problem for him in the election campaign. Biden regularly gets confused during appearances, fumbling for words, mixing up numbers or mixing up people and places. A few weeks ago his doctor confirmed that he was fully fit for work. However, the Democrat’s health check noted a number of ailments, such as general “wear and tear” and a “stiff gait.”

The investigation report of a special investigator into the affair surrounding the discovery of secret government documents in Biden’s private rooms also painted an unfavorable picture of the president. Researcher Robert Hur wrote that Biden was a “well-meaning older man with a bad memory.” The White House sharply criticized the report and rejected allegations it made regarding Biden’s age. But Trump is no longer young either. If the 77-year-old were re-elected again, at 78 years and seven months, he would be the oldest president ever to move into the White House.

Gaza war angers supporters

Biden has another problem: during the primaries in the states of Michigan and Minnesota, for example, it became clear that some voters punished him for his support for Israel in the Gaza war. A significant number of party supporters there refused to vote for Biden and voted ‘undecided’ in the primaries. The two votes were seen as an important test of sentiment because relatively large numbers of Muslims live in the two states.

But it’s not just Muslims who have likely denied Biden their vote in Michigan. Younger, left-wing Democrats also criticize the president given the many civilian casualties of the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip. For this reason alone, this group of voters is considered unlikely to switch to Republicans in the presidential election. However, things could get tight for Biden if many voters vote for an independent, third-party candidate or don’t vote at all. (SDA)

Source: Blick