Democrats overhaul their primary calendar
Sweeping change upends party’s political tradition
PHILADELPHIA — Upending decades of political tradition, members of the Democratic National Committee voted Saturday to approve a sweeping overhaul of the Democratic primary process, a critical step in President Joe Biden’s effort to transform the way the party picks its presidential nominees.
For years, Democratic nominating contests have begun with the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, a matter of immense pride in those states, and a source of political identity for many highly engaged residents.
But amid forceful calls for a calendar that better reflects the racial diversity of the Democratic Party and the country — and after Iowa’s 2020 meltdown led to a major delay in results — Democrats endorsed a proposal that would start the 2024 Democratic presidential primary circuit on Feb. 3 in South Carolina, the state that resuscitated Biden’s once-flailing candidacy. It would be followed by New Hampshire and Nevada on Feb. 6, Georgia on Feb. 13 and then Michigan on Feb. 27.
“This is a significant effort to make the presidential primary nominating process more reflective of the diversity of this country, and to have issues that will determine the outcome of the November election part of the early process,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell, DMich., who has vigorously pushed for moving up her state’s primary.
It’s a calendar that in many ways rewards the racially diverse states that propelled Biden to the presidency in 2020.
But logistical challenges to fully enacting it still remain. And resistance to the proposal has been especially fierce in New Hampshire, where officials have vowed to hold the first primary anyway, whatever the consequences.
New Hampshire, a small state where voters are accustomed to cornering candidates in diners and intimate town hall settings, has long held the first primary as a matter of state law.
New Hampshire Republicans, who control the governor’s mansion and state legislature, have stressed that they have no interest in changing that law, and many Democrats in the state have been just as forceful and have argued that they cannot make changes unilaterally. Some have also warned that Biden could invite a primary challenge from someone camped out in the state, or stoke on-theground opposition to his expected reelection bid.
Biden has had a rocky political history with the state — he placed fifth there in 2020 — but he also has longtime friends and allies in New Hampshire, some of whom have written a letter expressing concerns about the proposal.
The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee has given New Hampshire until early June to work toward meeting the requirements of the calendar, but some Democrats in the state have made clear that their position is not changing.
“They could say June, they could say next week, they could say in five years, but it’s not going to matter,” said former Gov. John Lynch, who signed the letter to Biden. “It’s like asking New York to move the Statue of Liberty from New York to Florida. I mean, that’s not going to happen. And it’s not going to happen that we’re going to change state law.”
But many prominent Democrats have been adamant that the committee should defer to Biden’s preference, reflecting his standing as the head of the party.
“If he had called me and said, ‘Jim Clyburn, I’ve decided that South Carolina should not be in the pre-primary window,’ I would not have liked that at all, but I damn sure would not oppose,” said Rep. James E. Clyburn, D-S.C., a close Biden ally. His state, under the new proposal, would zoom into the most influential position on the primary calendar, although Clyburn said he had personally been agnostic on the early state order as long as South Carolina was part of the window.
DNC rules demand consequences for any state that operates outside the committee-approved early lineup. That state would risk losing delegates in the nomination process — New Hampshire, for instance, could go from 32 delegates to 16 should it buck the lineup, which could make delegate-hunting contenders question the time investment.
Certainly, the New Hampshire primary has historically been more about building momentum and media attention than securing a large delegate prize. Even so, New Hampshire Democrats have urged the DNC not to punish the state, and party officials there hope the matter of sanctions is still up for some degree of discussion.
Georgia Democrats have also received an extension until June to work toward hosting a primary under the new calendar lineup.
Republicans have agreed to an early primary calendar, keeping the order of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, and Republican National Committee rules make clear that states that jump the order will lose delegates.
Georgia’s primary date is determined by the secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, and officials from his office have stressed that they have no interest in holding two primaries or in risking losing delegates.
Iowa Democrats argue that with significant hurdles still facing the new calendar, their state should be regarded as a safer bet to host an early contest.