Democrats approve a platform that mentions Biden’s ‘second term’ despite his making way for Harris

Delegates at the Democratic National Convention voted Monday night to approve their 2024 party platform, which lays out familiar priorities for the party but wasn’t updated to reflect that President Joe Biden is no longer running for reelection.

The largely ceremonial vote at Chicago’s convention signaled the party coalescing around a singular vision for the next four years — though a somewhat outdated one, as Vice President Kamala Harris has only outlined a few of her own specific policy positions since she took over the Democratic presidential ticket last month. The platform makes repeated reference to Biden’s “second term” despite the president’s decision a month ago to no longer seek one.

The Democratic National Committee said the more than 90-page document “makes a strong statement about the historic work that President Biden and Vice President Harris have accomplished hand-in-hand, and offers a vision for a progressive agenda that we can build on as a nation and as a Party as we head into the next four years.”

Regina Romero, the mayor of Tucson, Arizona, and co-chair of the convention platform committee, told delegates that the platform was passed “prior to the president passing the torch in an act of love and patriotism.” She said that the platform nonetheless included input from all corners of the party and has a “forward-looking vision for our party that echoes the voice of all.”

“Vice President Harris is now carrying the torch,” Romero said.

Mitch Landrieu, a former Biden senior adviser for infrastructure projects and another platform committee co-chair, said it “makes a strong statement about the historic work that President Biden and Vice President Harris have accomplished” while also representing ”a bold vision for our future.”

The platform was approved on the floor by a voice vote.

The convention’s platform committee voted to approve the platform on July 16, days before Biden bowed out of the race and endorsed Harris on July 21. As a result, the document repeatedly refers to Biden’s second term and his administration’s accomplishments. It mentions Harris’ work as vice president but does not describe her candidacy or go into detail on her views on key issues.

“President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats are running to finish the job,” it states, a sentiment that is now out of date.

Republican former President Donald Trump’s campaign has sought to tie Harris to Biden, arguing that his policies on the economy and other key issues are deeply unpopular. In a statement released shortly before the convention vote, it said, “There is no daylight between Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. The proof? The DNC just released Kamala’s party platform, and it includes at least (asterisk)nineteen(asterisk) mentions of ‘Biden’s second term.’”

Harris has indeed talked generally about supporting the Biden administration’s key goals, which are more or less endorsed in the platform as written. It calls for restoring abortion rights nationwide, continuing to advance green energy initiatives that can create jobs and help slow climate change, capping low-income families’ child care costs and urging Congress to approve a pathway to U.S. citizenship for “long-term” people in the country illegally.

The platform also says Israel’s right to defend itself is “ironclad” while endorsing the Biden administration’s efforts to broker a lasting cease-fire deal that could suspend the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Harris laid out a string of new economic proposals last week but otherwise hasn’t released a detailed list of her policy positions since taking over the top of the Democratic ticket. Her campaign aides have suggested she no longer adheres to some of the more liberal positions she took during her first run for president in 2020, including endorsing a ban on hydraulic fracturing.

In any event, candidates are not bound to adhere to their party’s platform and often don’t. What the platforms spell out usually has little effect on the race and is unlikely to have much impact on Election Day this cycle.

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