A powerful Democratic committee that will determine which states hold the party’s first nominating contests in the 2028 presidential race voted Saturday to advance 12 states that had applied to hold the first in the nation contests.
Iowa had traditionally held the first caucuses and New Hampshire has long relished its status as the first in the nation primary. But in 2024, Joe Biden’s allies pressed the Democratic Party to move up South Carolina’s primary ahead of New Hampshire to highlight his strength among Black voters.
After steep losses in the 2024 general election, party leaders have said they are ready to completely rethink the early state lineup. On Saturday, Democrats advanced the 12 states that applied to hold the first nominating contests: Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
Over the course of this year, the members of the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws committee will winnow that list down to four states — one from each geographic region. The committee is also expected to choose one additional state to hold its contest in the early window.
The states that want to be in the early lineup were required to prove their fairness, rigor and efficiency, said Rules and Bylaws Committee Co-Chair Minyon Moore. The intent is to craft “a calendar that produces the strongest possible Democratic nominee for president,” she said Saturday.
Party representatives from the 12 states will be invited at a future date to present their arguments to members of the Rules and Bylaws committee.
The early states in the nominating cycle are more likely to have their voters’ issues heard by the candidates vying for the presidential nomination as well as the financial investment that campaigning brings. The shake-up of the map also exemplifies the broader debate among Democrats over how to come back from the political wilderness by winning back young voters, Black and Hispanic men, and other critical blocs who gravitated toward Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Many Democratic strategists and state party officials have told The Washington Post in several dozen interviews in recent months that they believe party’s longtime viability could hinge on ensuring that the list of early states will help ensure that 2028 candidates can appeal to the key racial and socioeconomic groups Democrats will need to win the general election.
States like New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada are all vying to hold the first nominating contest. Party officials from states like Georgia and Michigan have made it clear that they will be satisfied being anywhere in the early rotation.
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