How the Democrats CAN replace Biden after his disaster debate performance

Democrats were left in a full-blown panic after Joe Biden's poor debate performance against Donald Trump, leading to talk about replacing the president on the ballot.

Biden, 81, fumbled and stumbled in the first presidential debate, sounding hoarse and searching for words as Trump swatted at his arguments. 

Senior Democratic leaders are reported to be having conversations about whether or not Biden should continue his run for president. Others suggested he be replaced. 

And it wouldn't necessarily be Vice President Kamala Harris who gets the nomination.

It also wouldn't be easy to replace Biden. He has the delegates to win the nomination and the only person who can decide to leave the race is Joe Biden. 

There is already chatter it would take combined talking to from top Democrats Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama to get Biden to consider it. 

Democrats are in a panic about Joe Biden's debate performance

It doesn't sound like Biden is entertaining that option. He defended his debate performance as 'well' and dismissed calls for his departure from the race.

Biden, along with wife Jill, stopped at a Waffle House in Atlanta to pick up some food for the plane ride to Raleigh, N.C., where they have a campaign event on Friday.

'I think we did well,' Biden told the press traveling with him.

When asked about the calls to drop out and whether he has any concerns about his performance, Biden said: ;No. It’s hard to debate a liar. The New York Times pointed out he lied 26 times.'

But is it possible to replace Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee. 

Yes but it's complicated by the fact Biden already has enough delegates to have won the nomination. 

He has 3,894 pledged delegates and it only takes 1,976 to be the nominee.  

Under party rules, delegates allocated to a candidate based on their primary wins are bound to their candidate on the first ballot at the convention. And that first ballot usually ends up in a nominee.

So legally Biden's delegates have to vote for him. 

However, if Biden were to drop out that would mean the nomination would be decided on the floor of the Democratic National Convention in August. 

His delegates would become  'uncommitted' and able to vote for any candidate they liked.

Vice President Kamala Harris would not automatically be the nominee nor would she have ownership of Biden's delegates because she was not on any primary ballots. Biden was.

But she would be the likely favorite given her status as his running mate.

Democrats, however, could choose any contender including any governor such as Gavin Newsom of California, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania.

Or one of the people that ran in 2020: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. 

Vice President Kamala Harris would not automatically get the nomination if Biden drops out

Democrats could pick another option, including Gov. Gavin Newsom of California (left) or Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan (right)

The Democratic National Convention will be held in Chicago from Aug. 19 to 22. Each state sends a certain number of delegates to the national convention.

If Biden stepped down, the party would have to hold a series of votes among the delegates until one person got the 1,976 to be the nominee.

This would likely result in a massive floor fight for votes that would take place over multiple days and dominate news coverage. 

The last floor flight was in 1968 and was such a disaster many new rules were added to the party's platform to keep such chaos from happening again.

That year, Democrats were worried their very unpopular president - Lydon B. Johnson - could not win another term.

Johnson, under party pressure, chose not to run. But the frontrunner for the nomination - Bobby Kennedy - was killed by an assassin in June of that year.

Johnson's vice president Hubert Humphrey and Eugene McCarthy had also been running. Neither had enough delegates to win the nomination on the first ballot at the convention, which was in Chicago (the same as this year's Democratic convention). 

The floor fight began with Humphrey ultimately winning the nomination. It was a huge controversy with riots breaking out all over the city. Humphrey ultimately lost the general election to Richard Nixon.

The last brokered Democratic convention was in Chicago in 1968 and resulted in riots

Things would be easier if Biden were to drop out of the race after the convention.

If that happened, the party's main committee would pick the nominee, avoiding a convention floor fight. 

Under party rules, the Democratic National Committee has the authority to choose a new candidate if either member of the ticket — the presidential or vice-presidential nominee — withdraws or dies.

Party Chairman Jaime Harrison would consult with Democratic leaders in Congress and in the Democratic Governors Association and report his findings to the committee, which would have the final say. 

Harris would not automatically be elevated to the top of the ticket.