Every other Tuesday, the team behind Civics 101 joins NHPR’s All Things Considered host Julia Furukawa to talk about how our democratic institutions actually work.
With the Republican National convention just behind us and the Democratic National convention coming up, Civics 101 host Nick Capodice joins Julia to talk about nominating conventions, why we have them and what they look like this election year.
Transcript
We held primaries and caucuses earlier this year that supposedly chose the nominees — and yet the Democratic nominee is now different. President Joe Biden has stepped out of the race and has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris instead. So what’s the point of having primaries AND nominating conventions?
When you vote for a candidate in a primary, you're not voting for that person. You weren't voting for Joe Biden. You were voting for a group of delegates who pledged to vote for Joe Biden at the convention.
Conventions used to be where the parties chose their candidates, and they can get pretty hairy. Some conventions lasted days and many votes by the delegates before a candidate was finally chosen. These are called contested conventions, where the candidate is not truly known until the convention is over. But perhaps in part because nominees from contested conventions rarely ever win, and also because people wanted their vote to matter more than the whims of party elites, a contested convention hasn't happened in about 50 years.
So Nick, what actually happens at these conventions?
Well Julia, since the candidate is pretty much assured before a convention nowadays, they're not as important as they used to be. So today, a convention is pretty much a media event. The party uses the convention to say what they're all about, what this election is all about. Celebrities give speeches and politicians give speeches. The party reveals their platform, which is exciting. But once that's all done, here's the fun part. The states each have one representative stand up to the mic, say something fun and exciting about their state, and then they say how many of their delegates are voting for a certain candidate. And once it's all over, you have a nominee.
Do our votes during the primary actually affect the convention, especially given how the Democratic nomination is playing out this year?
Yeah, well, there are a few snags in this situation—not very many—to secure Kamala Harris the nomination at the DNC. Some states have rules that the candidate who won the primary, regardless of whether they have dropped out or if they are alive or not, must be the person that the delegates vote for at the convention. Now, I envision the small handful of delegates who have to do this, they have to vote for Joe Biden at the convention, will say something to that effect.
But to the more important point here, and this is a major talking point specifically among the GOP, do your primary votes matter? Now, I have not yet met a person who voted for Joe Biden in the primary who has felt disenfranchised by their delegates pledging for Harris. The only ones who are crying foul on this “dereliction of democracy” are members of the other party. So yes, primaries are more small-d democratic. But honestly, Julia, I don't believe Democratic voters felt like it was a choice. The GOP did have a contested primary. Nikki Haley was in there till the end. But there was no contest for the Democratic Party. So what we're seeing right now, and as you're seeing on social media, is that there is a party deciding. This party is in lock step. This is a party not in disarray, but very much in array.
