BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - "It ain't over, til it's over," said Canisius College Political Science professor Kevin Hardwick. He was reacting to the decision by a U.S. District Judge in Manhattan to put New York's Democratic presidential primary back on June 23.
It's interesting to Hardwick because, while former Vice President Joe Biden is the party's presumptive presidential nominee, he has yet to formally clinch the nomination. The former VP is currently unopposed, but he needs 1,991 delegates to officially secure the nomination.
"Biden still doesn't have enough delegates to win the nomination on the first ballot," said Hardwick.
WBEN's Susan Rose asked Hardwick, "Is Biden going to be the nominee, or is there a chance of drafting someone else, like Andrew Cuomo?"
"There's always that chance," he said. "It depends on the Tara Reade allegations." Hardwick referring to the former Senate staffer who has accused Biden of sexually assaulting her when she worked for him in 1993. Biden has denied Reade's allegation, and has called on the Senate to locate and make public a complaint that she said she filed.
If Biden does not get in on the first ballot, it would be possible for delegates to leave him and vote for someone else.
"I suppose if people did turn on [Biden] in the Primary and vote for Bernie Sanders in a protest vote, which I'm not predicting, that would give people pause," said Hardwick.
If New York and other states cancel the primary, and Biden does not get the delegates, it raises the prospect of an open convention. "It's way out there, but a few people have raised that possibility."
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said three weeks ago that he would not leave his post as governor even if there were a last second effort to draft him for president. He told Sean Hannity he had no desire to run for president in 2020 and rejected any scenario of being recruited, even if something were to go wrong with Joe Biden's clear path to the nomination.
