The Democratic Party’s debate about which states will get coveted early-voting spots in the 2028 presidential primary inched forward on Monday, with a new deadline for states to apply to lead the calendar.
The Democratic National Committee is requiring states to apply by Jan. 16, which would establish the new lineup of states to be set sometime next year. The committee is using similar criteria for an early calendar slot as 2022, calling for a regionally diverse set of states. The window could include up to five states that would vote before Super Tuesday, the DNC said.
“The real question we face is asking each state why including them in the early window, pre-window period, helps us elect a Democratic president and win the elections,” Stuart Appelbaum, a DNC member, said during the Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting. “That is [the] prime criteria that we will be looking at and making our decision.”
The DNC revamped its calendar in 2022 to eliminate Iowa — historically the nation’s first voting state — add Michigan and elevate South Carolina to the first-place slot in 2024, a setup backed by then-President Joe Biden, whose own presidential bid was saved by South Carolina. That caused consternation in Iowa and New Hampshire, where leaders are now pressing to return to their influential spots.
The DNC planned to reevaluate the order ahead of the 2028 primary, but the committee’s moves take on fresh significance for a wide-open presidential primary process, in which the voting order of states will likely impact candidates’ strategy. But unlike in 2022, when Biden set the calendar, the DNC now has control of the process.
Jockeying for a calendar spot has already started, though several DNC members privately said they expect the composition of the early window to resemble previous years — which included South Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada and Michigan. The order of the states may prove trickier than which states are included.
That starts in New Hampshire, which ran an unsanctioned primary in 2024 after South Carolina replaced it as the first primary state. But New Hampshire Democrats are pushing to return to their first-in-the-nation status with a memo, obtained first by POLITICO last week. The memo said New Hampshire should not be reinstated “based simply on tradition,” its argument from 2022, but rather, because “we are a small, purple state with unmatched civic participation.”
During Monday’s meeting, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), who championed Michigan’s elevation in 2022, preemptively pushed back on criticism that her state is too big to be included in the early window.
“I recognize the importance of small states being able to do retail politics,” Dingell said. “But retail politics isn’t a reality by October, and we need to see how candidates do in real states, in early states.”
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