Joe Reed has accused the Biden election team of attempting to choose their own delegates from Alabama to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Reed, longtime chairman of the Alabama Democratic Conference, emailed a letter to the Biden campaign in which Reed accused the campaign of disqualifying Black delegates to the Convention.

The letter from Reed and the ADC was obtained and made public by the Alabama Reflector.

“I wish to impress upon you that your attempt to eliminate seventy-four dedicated, loyal, and loving, Democratic  delegates pledged to the Biden-Harris nomination at the Democratic National Convention is totally unacceptable and, in all due respect, will be resisted in every possible way, including going to federal court,” Reed wrote.

“This is an insult to Black voters in Alabama and across the nation. I do not believe that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris know about this yet; but everybody will know about it soon. “I beg of you” do not take away Black voters’ rights to vote and elect delegates of our own choosing to the Democratic National Convention.”

RELATED: Dem Party chair: Jones, DNC leaders perpetrated ‘racist plot’

Reed continued, “I will put it another way: the Democratic Party in Alabama is 66 percent Black. Most of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention will be elected by Blacks. By handpicking personal delegates you prevent Blacks and others from voting for the popular elected Democratic Delegates to reduce Black voters influence on Election Day.”

“You are playing a dangerous game,” warned Reed, accusing the Biden campaign of only appointing 19 Black delegates.

“How many other state delegates have you summarily and arbitrarily declared to be person Non-grata as Biden/Harris delegates? How does your trickery help Joe Biden and Kamala Harris?”

Reed is also the Vice-Chair for Minority Affairs in the Alabama Democratic Party and has been recognized as the most powerful force within the state party for years. The Alabama Democratic Party met on December 2 and selected 108 party members which they submitted to Biden’s campaign.

Instead of selecting the delegates from ADP Chairman Randy Kelley’s list, the Biden campaign picked 34 members it chose themselves for district level candidates. Assuming Biden wins the Alabama Democratic primary, the campaign will choose the rest of the 59 Alabama delegates in May.

President Biden and Congressman Dean Phillips (D-Minnesota) are both on the Alabama Democratic primary ballot on March 5.

This is just the latest rift between state and national Democrats party organizations.

In 2019, a bizarre power struggle between Vice-Chairman Reed and then-U.S. Senator Doug Jones led to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) invalidating the Alabama Democratic Party’s 2018 elections of both former Alabama Secretary of State Nancy Worley as state Chair and Kelley as the Vice-Chair.

RELATED: Jewish group condemns Alabama Democrats for Nazi comparison

Empowered by a directive from the DNC, Jones and a group of supporters then met in Montgomery and voted themselves on to the state executive committee of the Alabama Democratic Party. The new state executive committee then passed new bylaws for the Alabama Democratic Party reserving a numbers of seats on the state executive committee for the LGBTQ+ and Youth Caucuses thereby diminishing the strength on the state executive committee of the Minority Caucus – which was controlled by Reed and the ADC.

The new state executive committee then elected State Representative Chris England (D-Tuscaloosa) as the Democratic Party Chair.

Worley and Reed regarded the 2019 elections and bylaws as invalid and sued; but Worley passed away still maintaining that she was still the Chair of the Alabama Democratic Party.

Jones, the last Democratic officeholder elected in a statewide vote, was then defeated by former Auburn Football Coach Tommy Tuberville (R) in 2020.

In 2022, England announced he would not seek a second term as party chair. Kelley was subsequently elected.

In 2023, the state executive committee voted to rescind the controversial 2019 bylaws. The DNC is demanding that the state party restore the bylaws they approved.

Only one state has voted thus far; but 81-year-old Joe Biden appears to be the de facto Democratic presidential nominee.

To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email [email protected]