Job of Ohio Democratic delegates just got more interesting

USA Today turned to a political science expert from the University of Cincinnati to understand the role that state delegates historically have played at political conventions.

This year with President Joe Biden's announcement that he will not seek the nomination for re-election, delegates in states like Ohio could play a more-than-ceremonial role in picking the next Democratic nominee, UC College of Arts and Sciences Professor David Niven said.

Vice President Kamala Harris already has secured a number of important endorsements, but the delegates ultimately decide.

Former President Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination this month by securing the necessary delegate votes at the Republican National Convention.

Niven told USA Today that Democratic delegates this year could act more like the political kingmakers of generations past.

“In modern conventions, the delegates have been almost entirely symbolic. Their main job has been to fill a seat and to clap like crazy when the nominee appears,” Niven told USA Today.

“This is really a throwback delegate job,” he said, “to when delegates were little kingmakers.”

Niven teaches political science in UC's School of Public and International Affairs.

Read the USA Today story.

Featured image at top: USA Today spoke to UC College of Arts and Sciences Professor David Niven about the nomination process to come at the Democratic National Convention. Photo/iStockPhoto