By Alex Bass
Alex.bass@triangletribune.com
DURHAM – Durham Mayor Leo Williams got the call. So, too, did North Carolina Central rising senior Devin Freeman. Williams and Freeman will be among 168 North Carolina delegates to the Democratic National Convention Aug. 19-22 in Chicago.
“It’s like running for office all over again,” Williams said of the delegate nomination and selection process. Williams, like Forsyth County native Freeman, is a first-time delegate.
Freeman has been active in grassroots political efforts, including as vice chair of the Durham Young Democrats and Democratic Precinct 55-49 chair. “You can start from an early age to be a change agent,” Freeman said.
Williams and Freeman participated in an emergency state delegates campaign Zoom call on July 21. The call was an educational opportunity and unity moment that offered clarity concerning appropriate procedures for selecting a Democratic presidential nominee following the withdrawal of President Joe Biden. The presumptive nominee distinction now is held by Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Even if all this never happened, he’s not technically nominated until the convention,” said John Verdejo, a Raleigh-based member of the Democratic National Committee. Anyone could seek support from delegates who were pledged to Biden and create a “brokered convention,” Verdejo said. Then, a second balloting round must occur beyond a now almost symbolic roll call to make official the nominee standing of a candidate presumed before a party’s convention.
“I don’t want to see another thing such as what happened in 1968,” said Freeman, a political science major. Freeman referred to the Democratic convention, also in Chicago, where Vietnam conflict protesters were prominent.
Then Democratic President Lyndon Johnson had announced he would not seek re-election. Before then, Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy had declared his intent to pursue the presidential nomination. Vice President Hubert Humphrey sought the same, as did Massachusetts Senator Robert F. Kennedy (father of current independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.), though Kennedy was assassinated before the convention.
South Dakota Senator George McGovern entered the race. Eventual nominee Humphrey, seemingly, had enough pledged delegates entering the convention, but there were in-party fights on the convention floor. Sunday’s call, Verdejo said, was to preclude any such antics.
All 168 North Carolina delegates have pledged support for Harris. Verdejo said Tennessee was the first state to have such a Zoom call before North Carolina and other states followed. A candidate needs 1,976 delegates to secure the nomination.
“Enough delegates in enough states have submitted their intentions,” Williams said of informing the party’s national committee of support for Harris. “There can be all the challenges they want.”
