Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - With pressure continuing to mount for President Joe Biden to step off of the 2024 Democratic ticket, it would appear that he is not leaving the campaign willingly.
Buffalo Common Councilmember Mitch Nowakowski is a local Biden delegate.
He told WBEN on Thursday morning that recently he's been studying and researching the delegate process.
"There's a lot on the line here," he said.
Nowakowski explained his role as a Biden delegate.
"I am an elected delegate pledged to support Joe Biden. If he was to get out of the race, that's when delegates become free agents."
He told us the debate two weeks ago was tough to watch.
"I'm 32-years-old, and I watched the debate with a lot of younger people. I'm not going to hide the fact it was tough," Nowakowski admitted. "A decision [to step aside] has to be made by the president. But ultimately, we are voting on an administration and policies and proposals and party platforms. When you get elected, you implement those policies. As Democrats, we can't fight each other. we have to come together and figure this out."
The only way a pledged delegate can switch their vote is if Biden were to drop out of the Presidential race.
"At that point, it would be a contested convention," Nowakowski said. "And a pretty lively one, that's for sure."
Candidates would make a pitch to delegates.
"That's where the DNC and party leaders would have to come together to make sure it doesn't go too far off the rails," Nowakowski explained.
A contested convention hasn't happened in recent times.
The last time there was a serious fight for delegates was during the Republican presidential primary in 1976, when Ronald Reagan was first running for office and then-President Gerald Ford was fighting to hold on to the White House.
At the time, neither Ford nor Reagan had secured the number of delegates needed to get that "presumptive" title ahead of time, meaning that there was some bitter fighting up until the end of the first roll call vote on the convention floor. Ford ended up with the nomination and ultimately lost his bid for the White House to Jimmy Carter.
The last time a candidate came to a political convention with less than a majority of delegates was 1984 when Walter Mondale was a few dozen short. Despite an effort by Gary Hart’s campaign to persuade Mondale delegates to vote for Jesse Jackson, Mondale won the nomination, but lost the election to Ronald Reagan.