Louisiana Democrats Know Who They Want to Replace Joe Biden on the Ballot

LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL News) - The Democratic Party appears to be in turmoil following last week's presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump.

There have been multiple calls within the party, both on the record and anonymous, for the sitting president to bow out of the race after he appeared to struggle to answer questions from CNN moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.

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There have been calls for replacements, with several names popping up in social media and behind the scenes in Washington D.C. Most of those names are familiar - former first lady Michelle Obama and California governor Gavin Newsom are frequently mentioned.

Also mentioned in those backroom debates are Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, Colorado governor Jared Polis, Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The biggest question, though, is whether or not Democrats could get away with replacing Biden with someone other than his vice president, Kamala Harris.

But the process to replace the current candidate is difficult. Biden would have to voluntarily step down and release the delegates he won through various primaries this year. But he can't tell them where to go. Releasing them would create an open convention scenario for the Democrats, where there would have to be a lot of wheeling and dealing to come to a decision.

Further complicating matters are legal issues concerning the Biden campaign's war chest. Currently, Biden has a major cash advantage over Trump, but only Kamala Harris could use it if Biden steps aside. No other candidate could get immediate access to that money. It could be transferred to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), but they are legally barred from directly coordinating with a presidential campaign, and the money would not be readily available to whoever the candidate could be.

But who do Louisiana Democrats favor as a replacement?

The research team at BetOnline tracked hundreds of thousands of tweets across the country using trends-analyzing software and the Twitter/X API. Below is a map breaking down which possible replacement candidates are favored in each state.

The map was put together based on geotagged posts on Twitter/X that have gone up since the debate last week. Two names have dominated the discussion online: Michelle Obama and Gavin Newsom.

It appears that Louisiana Democrats who are active online prefer - or, at least, believe - that Michelle Obama should be (or will be) the one to replace Biden. The only problem with that belief? She has said multiple times she doesn't want to be president. She also reportedly despised the White House when her husband, Barack Obama, was president.

For now, Biden has said he is not dropping out. There are a lot of folks out there, however, who believe otherwise.