As Democrats begin to push harder for President Joe Biden to pull out of the 2024 presidential race, a conservative think tank promised on Wednesday to make that maneuver "extraordinarily difficult."
The Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project Executive Director Mike Howell compiled a memo in April and released it last week just prior to the debate between Biden and former President Donald Trump, according to a report from NOTUS, a Washington publication from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Allbritton Journalism Institute.
The White House has spent the last week doing damage control following Biden's poor performance while the list of Democrats calling for him to step aside grows daily.
Earlier in the year, the Heritage Foundation -- it's one of the nation's most prominent conservative activist groups -- began researching the various state election laws and the rules for replacing a candidate. Howell noted that replacing Biden would be "extraordinarily difficult" and that "we would make it extraordinarily difficult."
"If the Biden family decides that President Biden will not run for re-election, the mechanisms for replacing him on ballots vary by state. There is the potential for pre-election litigation in some states that would make the process difficult and perhaps unsuccessful," Howell wrote in the memo.
Heritage framed the preparation for legal battles as a bid to ensure election integrity in a tumultuous time. Howell wrote, "We will remain vigilant that appropriate election integrity procedures are followed."
Senior legal fellow at Heritage Zach Smith told the outlet, "The problem that any potential replacement for Joe Biden would likely run into is that in many states, including several key states, the deadline for getting on the ballot has already passed."
"We've zeroed in on a few states that we think are the best case," Howell said. "It all depends on when and how they do it."
The Heritage Memo called out Wisconsin, Nevada and Georgia, all key swing states, as potential states that could be used to block any Biden replacement.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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