There’s ample time in Arizona, at least technically, to get a new Democrat on the ballot if President Joe Biden were to abandon his bid for reelection. Ballots aren’t finalized until late summer, and the first ballots don’t go out until Sept. 21.
But so far, Arizona’s top politicians are not calling on the president to step aside.
The 81-year-old Biden set out to quiet fears about whether he is up to holding the nation’s top job on Thursday night, but his attempt failed soon after he stepped onto the debate stage. Biden mixed up his words – at one point declaring that “we finally beat Medicaid” – and often stood with his mouth ajar behind the podium.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump dodged on whether he would accept the 2024 election results, spread falsehoods about immigration and abortion and disputed an accusation that he had sex with a porn star, reminding the left just how high the stakes are facing voters in November.
The reaction was swift. Democrats across the country began to chatter about whether it was time for Biden to go. Opinion makers, including The New York Times editorial board, called on the president to end his bid. Republicans took a victory lap.
“I think all of this is silly,” said DJ Quinlan, former executive director of the Arizona Democratic Party. “This is literally a thing that is existing among liberal handwringers and the media.”
How could a new Democratic candidate get on the ballot in Arizona?
As far-fetched as Biden stepping aside may be, there is a process for how Democrats could slot in a new presidential pick. Biden would have to abandon his campaign by the end of the summer to allow Arizona’s election to run smoothly over the next several months.
State law requires the political party chairperson to pick presidential electors, a process that already has happened. By Aug. 9, their names must be filed with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, one of many mandatory steps preceding the Nov. 5 election.
That’s 10 days before the Democratic National Convention starts Aug. 19. These electors are tied to the candidate who prevails at the national convention, Quinlan said. In this case, they would be tied to Biden unless he releases them to vote as they choose. Biden is already facing a call to release his delegates in Iowa.
Arizona’s general election ballot will be set by Sept. 21, a month after the Democratic convention concludes. That’s the same date that the recorders in Arizona’s 15 counties start sending out ballots to overseas and military voters, according to the election calendar posted by the Arizona secretary of state.
The Biden campaign strongly disputed the idea that the president would abandon his reelection campaign and pointed to the fact that he raised $14 million in campaign funds the day of the debate.
“There are no conversations about that whatsoever. The Democratic voters elected — nominated Joe Biden. Joe Biden is the nominee,” Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign communications director, said aboard Air Force One on Friday. Tyler also noted that Biden spoke with more vigor during a rally in North Carolina on Friday.
“Folks, I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know: I know how to tell the truth,” Biden said in Raleigh.
Gov. Katie Hobbs: ‘Compare him to the alternative’
Nationally, some of the party’s biggest stars came to Biden’s side.
“Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself,” former President Barack Obama posted on X, the platform previously called Twitter. Biden got votes of confidence from Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and his wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, too.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, who refused to debate Republican Kari Lake during her 2022 campaign for governor, declined to score Biden on his debate skills and did not directly answer a question on 12 News about whether the president should step aside. She took aim at Trump instead.
“As the president has said, don’t compare him to the almighty, compare him to the alternative — and by that metric, the choice is abundantly clear in this race,” Hobbs said.
Some Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans in Arizona told The Republic on Friday they were spooked by the president’s debate performance, but few seemed ready to call for Biden’s departure from the race.
Perhaps most crucially, convention delegates are still on board here.
Joshua Polacheck, a candidate for Arizona Corporation Commission and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, viewed the 90-minute face-off with some of his fellow delegates at a watch party in Phoenix. The crowd would have preferred a different debate performance, but Polacheck said the contrast between Biden and Trump on substance and values was very clear heading into November.
“We don’t have wool over our eyes. Biden wasn’t Kennedy in 1960,” Polacheck said. “But Trump wasn’t Reagan in 1980.”
Biden also got a boost from a Democratic state lawmaker who is a veteran of presidential campaigns.
“President Biden may not talk, walk or debate the way that he used to, but he speaks the truth and surrounds himself with good people to manage our country,” said state Rep. Junelle Cavero, a political consultant and Arizona delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
“Democratic voters will never forget what Biden has accomplished — on student debt, immigration reform, organized labor, the economy and his commitment to restore abortion rights. Rational voters understand that Trump will take all of those rights away.”
And at a debate night watch party on Thursday night, one voter noted Trump and Biden were similar in age.
Ylenia Aguilar, a 41-year-old Phoenix resident and candidate for the Arizona Corporation Commission, said at a Biden-hosted party in Phoenix that she hoped to see a positive message coming from Biden on stage. With the advanced ages of both Biden and Trump in mind, Aguilar said that the most qualified candidate should be elected in November.
Quinlan, the former state party executive director, said voters are more nuanced than they get credit for and can see the clear difference between Biden and Trump.
“He’s an honest man who has always tried to do what’s right for the country,” he said of Biden. “And the other guy is a convicted felon.”
Republic reporters Fernando Cervantes Jr. and Sabine Martin contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Could Democrats replace Joe Biden? How it would work in Arizona
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