‘Blatantly Lying’: Nate Silver Throws Down With DNC Chair Over Using Ohio ‘Deadline’ To Accelerate Biden Nomination

Pollster Nate Silver clapped back at Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Jaime Harrison Tuesday in a heated exchange over a push by President Joe Biden -aligned Democrats to accelerate his official nomination through a virtual roll call as early as next week.

While the honor is usually delivered in person at the party’s August Democratic National Convention, Democrats are considering the virtual roll call process citing Republican moves in Ohio that might keep Biden off the ballot in that state.

Democrats are increasingly anxious about Biden’s chances against former President Trump, with some, like Silver, urging Biden to step aside. Harrison underscored the importance of securing Biden’s place on the ballot to maintain voter turnout and protect down-ballot races.

On Tuesday, however, Silver, who has called himself a “centre left liberal” tagged Harrison in a tweet about political scientist Daniel Scholzman’s take in a Vox article that “to cite the Ohio law” was “disingenuous” and amounted to “misinformation.”

Harrison shot back on the platform saying he put his “trust in our legal team” and “not in the pollster who promised us the red wave” – a reference to a prediction made about the 2022 midterms by Silver’s FiveThirtyEight analytics outlet.

Denying he had promised a red wave, Silver told the DNC chair to “stop lying.”

https://x.com/NateSilver538/status/1813358818195095953

Harrison responded saying that the roll call will take place in August in a tweet that was flagged by readers with a context annotation backing Silver’s point, that the Ohio deadline was not August.

Silver then repeated that there was no such deadline. He urged the Democrat to “have some guts and defend your party’s ability to follow its own process. And stop lying to the American public.”

In a lengthy tweet, Harrison retorted : “Nate… you can call me a lot of things but a liar is definitely not one of them.”

Citing the Ohio Constitution, Harrison explained the law signed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to extend the deadline to August 31 doesn’t take effect until September 1, making the original August 7 deadline still applicable.

He emphasized the urgency to ensure Biden’s compliance with Ohio law to avoid “GOP games” and prevent Biden from being left off the ballot.

Firing a last shot, Silver said : “Dude it’s the RNC and instead of driving your party’s messaging you’re arguing with a blogger.”