WASHINGTON, July 18. /TASS/. The Democratic National Committee plans to designate incumbent US President Joe Biden as their presidential candidate in early August, before the national convention in Chicago, the NBC television channel reported.

Earlier, it was expected that Biden will be officially nominated the Democratic presidential candidate during the party convention in Chicago on August 19-22. However, NBC said that the Democratic National Committee had sent a letter to its members, saying that the plan is to formally renominate Biden in a virtual roll call vote during the first week of August.

Many senior Democrats oppose the idea, saying that more time is needed to consider alternative nominees, because of the incumbent president’s weak performance during the latest debates with his main electoral rival, former President Donald Trump.

The US presidential election will take place on November 5. After Biden's fiasco at the televised election debate with Trump on June 27, calls intensified for the incumbent president to quit the race. There are reports that Democrats are feverishly searching for a candidate to replace Biden.

On July 15, Trump was formally selected at the Republican National Convention as the presidential nominee.