What’s happening behind the scenes with Biden’s delegates

President Joe Biden admitted on Thursday night he was open to stepping aside on the Democratic ticket if the new pick could beat Donald Trump and said delegates could do ‘whatever they want’ at the party’s convention next month.

The 81-year-old opened the door to being replaced, but insisted he had ‘overwhelming support’ from his party and the polls show he is winning.

Thousands of delegates from across the country are gearing up to head to Chicago next month for the Democratic National Convention. 

And despite the Biden campaign being roiled by fallout over President Joe Biden’s stumbling debate performance and growing concerns over his fitness, delegates are hunkering down and preparing to vote for Biden as their nominee as planned.

DailyMail.com spoke with delegates from multiple states who are paying close attention to calls by some Democrats for the president to step aside but are ready to nominate him nonetheless without major reservations.

‘I ran as a pledged Biden delegate, and he is the nominee,’ said Tennessee delegate Megan Lange. ‘He is the only nominee and and, you know, I believe that Biden has done a lot of good.’

Lange, who works on Democrats’ campaigns, said others she has spoken to in her state’s delegation have all been on the same page.

There are nearly 4,000 pledged delegates and more than 700 automatic delegates heading to Chicago next month for the convention from August 19 through 22. 

They are a diverse group of Democrats from young people still in school to senior citizens, local party activists to federally elected and former top officials.

Thousands of them were elected to represent their states in the presidential nomination process and committed to following through with their pledge.

Behind the scenes, delegates have been holding weekly calls as they prepare to officially nominate Biden.

Some delegates told DailyMail.com campaign and party officials had been reaching out to reconfirm support as recently as this week amid the escalating push for the president to exit the race. 

But others said they had not heard from the campaign for weeks and were not expecting to.

Even before Biden’s poor debate performance, the campaign and party had been checking in about how delegates are feeling about the election more generally and helping delegates navigate logistics for getting to Chicago.

As the convention looms, there has been some private talk among delegates over whether Biden is the best choice to beat Donald Trump in November and mixed views on the matter.

Some delegates watching the debate did raise alarms to fellow delegates over his performance including in group chats.

Others argued there is a lot of hard work to to do between now and November to turn out voters, but they still believe Biden is the best choice.

Maverick Flowers, a delegate from Tennessee, said every delegate he spoke to after the debate expressed disappointed, worry or were even ‘kinda scared.’

‘But I think as more time’s gone on, I think people are starting to again rally around the president, the campaign,’ he said. 

At the end of the day, Flowers said he has ‘no reservations’ voting for Biden as a delegate because of what the president has accomplished.

Delegates DailyMail.com spoke to rejected discussion of delegates even considering another nominee at the convention. Some noted voters have already spoken; others pointed out talk of a dramatic convention shakeup is not currently viable.

‘I think that people, those who are talking, they actually don’t even understand the process that we’re going through this year,’ said Tennessee delegate Jasper Hendricks who also served as a delegate in 2016, but from Virginia. ‘We’re not voting at the convention. We’re voting before the convention.’

Hendricks referred to the virtual process which will take place before delegates even arrive in Chicago. 

He said the debate he has heard about rule changes for the convention were not coming from the delegates but outside voices and is confident in casting his ballot.

‘I’m supporting the President and his team because they’re doing a job. They’re doing a great job right now at this moment,’ he said. ‘That’s my attitude towards it.’ 

Wisconsin delegate Donald Dantzler, who serves on the Fitchburg city council, was one of several delegates DailyMail.com spoke to who were not ready to entertain who could replace Biden if he were to choose to step aside. 

He said Biden had a bad debate but that did not determine how he would be able to run the country. He noted that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have both visited his battleground state multiple times this year including Biden holding a campaign event there last week.

‘I take those headlines for a grain of salt,’ Dantzler said of the debate fallout. 

‘For every George Clooney there are two people putting in the work,’ he said of the actor who wrote a devastating op-ed this week calling for Democrats to pick a new nominee. 

Dantzler argued the convention will be about getting Democrats’ message out.

‘I really hope through attending this convention, we can kind of push that narrative to individuals and get them to understand what’s really at stake and what could really happen if the other side is put back in office,’ he said.