Why a legal challenge is unlikely to keep Harris off Wisconsin ballots

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- On the city's east side Monday, there were actual signs indicating Democrats here were ready to embrace Vice President Kamala Harris as the party's new presidential nominee. One day after President Joe Biden announced he will step aside and end his campaign, modified yard signs covered up Mr. Biden's name with tape and written phrases like "Let's Go Harris."

On a call with reporters, Ben Wikler, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, said 89 of the state's 95 Democratic delegates had already pledged their support for Harris. 

One of those delegates calling for a quick unification around Harris as the Democratic nominee was Ann Jacobs, who's also the current chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC). Jacobs is one of three Democrats on the six-member commission, which is evenly divided by state law.

Jacobs said it was unrealistic for the party to have an open convention next month in Chicago given the challenges of pivoting a campaign less than four months before an election.

"It's just a little naive. Politics isn't about the exact perfect unicorn candidate, never has been and it can't be," she said. "It's who is our candidate right now that we can elect who's gonna effectuate as many of the goals we have as possible. That person is Kamala Harris."

Jacobs said she was confident the holdout delegates would end up casting their votes for Harris next month.

"I think they'll come around because the idea of an open primary sounds very exciting but would actually be just chaos," she said. "And we don't need chaos. We need a message. We need to go forward, and we need to work hard."

Republicans at both the state and national levels indicated Monday they were considering legal challenges to Democrats making a change at the top of their ticket. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said such lawsuits would be handled at the state level but said the act itself was troubling.

"Well, look, if it violates the rules in some of these states, I expect there will be litigation over that, so we'll see how it develops," Johnson told reporters on Capitol Hill. "We're doing our job here in Washington, the states will be handling that, but I do think it's problematic. I believe millions of the American people believe is problematic. This is not the way the system is supposed to work."

Republican Party of Wisconsin Chairman Brian Schimming said the state GOP would look into whether there were grounds for any kind of legal challenge, but he added Republicans welcomed the idea of running against Harris because she's "more liberal" than President Biden.

"There will be a review of the various legal issues that come with switching out their candidate on top of the ticket," Schimming said. "Just as if we did the same thing, Democrats would be doing it to us."

However, a challenge to any attempt to put Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket seems extremely unlikely to succeed in Wisconsin, even if there was an open convention at the Democratic National Convention. State law requires political parties to submit their nominees for president, vice president and electors by 5 p.m. on the second Tuesday of September. This year, that date is September 3.

"I have to tell you, I have no idea what legal basis there would be to challenge Vice President Harris becoming the presidential candidate," Jacobs said. "I know there's been a lot of chest-beating that lawsuits will be filed, but it feels like a lot of puffery right now."