North Dakota Democrats see an exciting month ahead

Patrick Hart, left, a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, and Adam Goldwyn, chair of the North Dakota Dem-NPL Party, talk during the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Convention in Fargo in April 2024. (Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)

North Dakota delegates to the Democratic National Convention expressed gratitude Sunday to President Joe Biden for his service and willingness to step aside to give Democrats their best chance at holding on to the White House.

In an interview with the North Dakota Monitor, Patrick Hart of Bismarck, a district delegate to the convention and the Democratic-NPL lieutenant governor candidate, said he is excited to see how the situation plays out.

“Regardless of who the candidates are, I think the national convention in August is going to be really exciting and riveting and I’m happy to be a part of the process,” Hart said.

Jamie Selzler, North Dakota’s Democratic National Committee national committeeman, said the process should be clear about how someone can be nominated at the convention, but ultimately the process will be crafted by the DNC and voted on by the DNC Convention Rules Committee.

“As long as there is a process in place for candidates to make their interests known, be put into the mix for a vote by the full delegation, but it’s also important to have a process that doesn’t create chaos,” Selzler said. “For example, having five, 10, 15 votes at a convention might make for great television, it doesn’t make for great politics.”

Selzler said he does believe the process can be solidified before the DNC meets Aug. 19-22 in Chicago.

“Those delegates were going to vote for Biden, but by him not being on (the nomination ballot), he essentially releases them and he tells them, ‘you can vote for whoever you want to vote for,’” he said. “So all of those delegates are now free agents. So having a process to vote very quickly is very doable, but I just want to make sure that we have a process that doesn’t look like it’s a back-room deal. We just need a process that’s transparent.”

State Sen. Kathy Hogan, D-Fargo, also is a delegate.

“We’re going back to the way conventions were 20, 30 years ago,” she said. “It’s going to be one of the most interesting months in politics I’ve seen in a long time.”

Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor.

Hogan said she’s confident Harris would make a strong president, considering her experience in the White House and the U.S. Senate. Hogan also feels Harris does a good job connecting with voters under 40.

“Kamala has really stepped into her own,” Hogan said.

Hogan said she feels there are a lot of strong contenders for Harris’ running mate, but that she’s particularly supportive of U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.

State Rep. Gretchen Dobervich, D-Fargo, also a national delegate, said the move could be an opportunity for the party to change its policy strategy.

“Personally, I think we should be a little bit bolder,” she said.

Selzler and Hart said they believed Biden made the right decision to withdraw from the race.

“I feel like I’ve been getting a lot of calls over the last 30 days since the debate and it seems like a lot of people were on the fence, questioning whether he’s there or not,” Hart said.  “I’m sure it took a lot of soul searching for him to come to this decision this week.”

Hart added he’s unsure whether Biden withdrawing from the race will bring those voters back.

“It’s hard to please everyone,” he said. “I trust the process. And I’m sure that the process that will be put in place and laid out by the DNC is going to be rigorously thought through.”

Hart also wanted to reiterate that Biden has accomplished a lot during his tenure to “strengthen middle-America.”

On Biden’s legacy, Selzler said he thinks Biden will begin to be viewed in a different lens as a one-term president and not someone who tried to hang on and possibly lose a reelection campaign.

“We sometimes forget because of how bad COVID was, truly how bad things were coming out of that,” Selzler said. “And the fact that Joe Biden was able to help us transition out of COVID to the economy where it is now, with low unemployment, is amazing.”

Democrats cited the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act as Biden accomplishments.

In an emailed statement, Adam Godwyn, chair of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party said, “For a half century, through personal and political triumphs and setbacks, President Biden has done what he believes is best for our country and our world. Like George Washington, President Biden becomes one of very few American Presidents to voluntarily cede power in pursuit of the greater good.”

On how this changes the dynamics of the presidential race, Selzler said Donald Trump will now be the oldest presidential candidate nominated by a major political party.

“Republicans have been saying for a long time that Joe Biden was too old to run for president and they now have the oldest nominee in history,” he said of Trump, who is 78. “The Republicans are going to have to decide what message they really want to use because the ‘your-guy-is-too-old’ argument applies only to them.”

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