<<Note: if you think a petition won’t convince Biden, we agree. The petition is the way we gather. As we reach new signature milestones (5k, 10k, 100k, etc), we’ll share creative, collective actions that can impact the media story, the national narrative and the inner sanctum of Biden and the other candidates. We have a bunch up our sleeves. >>
Our Two Demands
Joe Biden: retire gracefully and endorse an open Democratic Convention that includes top Democrats as well as 3rd party contendersIndependent “Non-Trump” Candidates: drop out; negotiate unity platform, ticket, and sustained influence in the next presidency
To beat Trump, we must face two facts the Democratic Party won’t
the Biden/Trump math is bad (Trump +6)the Biden/RFK/Stein/West/Trump math is worse (Trump +11)
Several candidates are splitting the anti-Trump vote. Not one of them is strong enough to win in such a scenario. Instead of plowing ahead and pretending there’s currently a clear path to beating Trump, we must unify behind a ticket and a platform that energizes the entire anti-Trump world.
Below, we lay out a people-driven plan to change the current trajectory dramatically.
Biden is a weak candidate
Whatever you may feel about his presidency, the Joe Biden of 2024 is a weak candidate. Even his supporters aren’t excited about him, and he’s much less popular now than when he barely beat Trump in 2020. And, fair or unfair, eighty-six percent of Americans think Biden is too old to serve another term.
The February special report from the Justice Department called him a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Its aftermath was even worse. Ezra Klein of the NY Times says it best: the purpose of the press conference in response “was to reassure voters of Biden’s cognitive fitness, particularly his memory. And Biden couldn’t do that, not for one night, not for fewer than 15 minutes.”
To beat Trump this year, we need a stronger candidate.Seventy-three percent of Democrats want another choice.
RFK Jr, Jill Stein and Cornel West are even weaker candidates
No third party candidate has ever won the US presidency. No matter what you may think of these people, their charisma, their policies, their legacies, or their anti-establishment messages, the fact that they won’t have an (R) or a (D) next to their name on the ballot means that they won’t win.
The simple truth is that to beat a Republican running for president, we need a stronger candidate who is also a Democrat.
Let’s choose a Trump-trouncing candidate at an open Democratic National Convention
For most Americans, the idea of holding a national convention that is more than a formality is unfamiliar, possibly even unthinkable. But that has not always been the case.
In one of the most pivotal moments in American history, an open convention nominated Abraham Lincoln over William Seward. Similarly, in 1932, in the midst of the Great Depression, the Democratic National Convention—also an open convention with no clear favorite when the opening gavel was struck—ended with the nomination of the relatively unknown governor of New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who went on to win a landslide victory in November.
Today, we find ourselves at another pivotal, crisis-laden moment. The time has come for another open convention. There are currently a handful of very strong Democratic potential contenders, including a few who are well known and a few highly popular governors of swing (and even red) states who aren’t.
At an open Democratic Convention, these candidates will participate in live-broadcast debates and stump speeches so that the delegates and all Americans can judge their ability to take on Trump and lead the country. Viable 3rd party candidates must also be invited to participate as equal contenders.
The convention itself, properly marketed, would become a veritable political Super Bowl and all of the serious potential candidates - from Kamala Harris to Gretchen Whitmer to Raphael Warnock to…. would have the opportunity to make their case to the nation in an electric and ultimately unifying democratic process.
The winner would emerge vetted and battle-tested, with a level of momentum that no candidate in almost a century could claim.
We must also unify with the 3rd party candidates
Replacing Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket removes one of Trump’s key advantages. To remove the other, we must unify the anti-Trump vote. We can do this by convincing 3rd party candidates to drop out or by convincing their fans to support the new nominee. We must give those candidates and their supporters something they want, whether it be policy, a leader that inspires them, or important positions in the next administration. All of this can be negotiated at the Democratic National Convention by inviting these candidates to be fully vested participants there.
FAQ
How is a petition going to apply enough pressure?
It won’t. The petition is the way we gather. As we reach new signature milestones (5k, 10k, 100k, etc), we’ll share creative, collective actions that can impact the media story, the national narrative and the inner sanctum of Biden and the other candidates. We have a bunch up our sleeves.
Are you sure Biden can’t win?
No. But Biden’s support has slipped from where it was 4 years ago when his margin of victory in the key swing states was extremely narrow and his campaign has not yet inspired optimism. We have become increasingly alarmed that key groups who voted for him in 2020 have lost enthusiasm. Among these groups are many people who don’t always vote. We’re not afraid that they’ll vote for Trump as much as we’re afraid they won’t vote at all if we don’t come up with a more exciting candidate and program. A stronger candidate would also allow us to make a more convincing argument about Trump’s own age and (possibly worse) cognitive decline. Ezra Klein of the NY Times explains the predicament convincingly, differentiating between Biden the president and Biden the 2024 candidate.
Won’t this hurt Biden if it doesn’t succeed?
We won’t be going negative on Biden. Our goal is to defeat Trump. If the campaign gathers momentum but doesn’t succeed in all of our demands, we will leverage that momentum to champion an inspirational policy agenda that gets people off the couch and into the booth to beat Trump, much as Obama’s campaign inspired people or Bernie’s candidacy ultimately helped to bring young people out for Biden in 2020.
Is there precedent for an incumbent president who’s ahead in his primary stepping aside gracefully?
Yes, Lyndon Johnson did so in 1968. His opponent Eugene McCarthy credited Johnson’s withdrawal from the race to antiwar activists in general and those who had volunteered on his campaign in particular. Referring to Johnson’s supporters, McCarthy said, “I don’t think they could stand up against five million college kids just shouting for peace. There was too much will-power there.” Let’s show Biden our will power.
Is there precedent for a unification like you’re suggesting?
Yes. One recent example: in 2020, Biden worked with the Sanders and Warren factions to share power in negotiating the Democratic platform and filling positions in the administration. This was not window dressing. Much of the most progressive policy that has come out of the Biden Administration is precisely because of these negotiations and appointees.
Who are you?
We are a small group of passionate volunteers. We worked on both of Bernie’s campaigns and then Biden’s. We have been experimenting with conditional commitments (“I will if a bunch of other people do, too”) in a project called Threshold and built a relational organizing app named Landslide. Since 2020, we’ve been planning an 18-month political, consumer and cultural renaissance of mass collaboration to pass Fifty Freedoms—a generationally bold policy agenda that brings shared prosperity to all and heals the planet. Over the past couple of months we’ve become alarmed by Biden’s prospects: with a GOP president, we will be losing freedoms, not gaining them.
Join us to save our democracy, to save our country, to save our planet, and to build a beautiful future.
References
Popularity and polls
Biden
Trump does even better against Biden in polls that include RFK Jr, and better yet when Jill Stein and Cornel West are also included
Eighty-six percent of Americans think Biden is too old to serve another term
Seventy-three percent of Democrats believe we need another choice
Half of people under 29 say that they won’t vote because of dissatisfaction with Biden, citing his handling of Gaza; it’s even worse amongst young Black voters
How Biden Could/Should Pass Baton
Here’s How a Plan B Could Work
Democrats Have a Better Option than Biden
Democrats Could Replace Biden
Yes, Trump is planning an authoritarian takeover called Project 2025
Trump, MAGA and the GOP are implementing a classic authoritarian takeover strategy
Plan to dismantle US climate policy
Plan to dismantle the US government and replace it with Trump’s vision
