CT Dems seek to move up 2024 presidential primary

Democrats seeking to shake up the schedule for first-in-the-nation presidential battlegrounds that were once the exclusive domain of quadrennial kingmakers like Iowa and New Hampshire may soon be taking a closer look at Connecticut.

In a letter sent to national party officials on May 5, Connecticut Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo gave notice of the Constitution State’s intent to become one of the first four states in the party’s primary and caucus schedule during the 2024 presidential election cycle, and potentially in future elections.

The notice comes as the Democratic National Committee is considering what could be the biggest reshuffling of its nomination schedule in decades, following criticism that the first two states in the current order — Iowa and

New Hampshire — are overwhelmingly white and do not reflect the increasing diversity of America or the party’s voters.

“Those states don’t stand out in any way other than the fact that they’ve always been first,” DiNardo said. “They’re not really representative of the country… I think it’s good that they’re good that they’re looking at it again with eyes a bit more wide open about how this should be.”

More than 34 percent of Connecticut residents identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian, mixed race or another minority, just slightly lower than the national average of nearly 40 percent according to the most recent census estimates.

Connecticut also boasts one of the highest levels of educational attainment of any state, making it attractive for presidential candidates seeking to gain support based on policy bonafides. The state’s close proximity to New York

City also makes it a convenient destination for national news outlets, another potential plus.

One factor that could work against Connecticut is its strong Democratic leaning in federal elections, meaning the party is not likely to get as much of a boost as it would from candidates engaging with voters in a battleground state.

State Rep. Geraldo

Reyes, D- Waterbury, the chair of the legislature’s Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, said however that

Connecticut is “perfectly primed” to be taken under consideration by the DNC based on its demographic changes over the last decade.

“The influx of people coming in here are Hispanic, African American and Asian, they’re not caucasian,” Reyes said. “We could be ahead of the curve and actually include a state that is closer to 50-50.”

Party officials in Connecticut are not alone in trying to take advantage of the open bidding process. According to a tally by the Washington Post, officials in at least 17 other states submitted similar letters of intent to the DNC ahead of last Friday’s deadline.

Nearby, officials in New York and New Jersey are reportedly planning their own bids that would likely compete with Connecticut’s. In New Hampshire, the only other New England state to submit a bid according to the Post, Democrats are preparing to fight to keep their first-inthe-nation primary status that dates back more than a century.

Iowa and other states currently placed at the front of the nomination calendar, Nevada and

South Carolina, are also submitting bids to keep their position or move up, according to the Post.

At stake for all those states — in addition to the clout of testing candidate’s political fortunes — is the financial windfall associated with visits from high profile candidates and their trail of staff members, journalists and curious onlookers as they crisscross the state.

“It’s a lot of money,” said Fairfield University Political Science Professor Gayle Alberda, who witnessed the Iowa caucuses firsthand while living in Des Moines. “It is a revenue generator, you are selling out hotels, you are having folks go to restaurants and eating out, you’re more apt to host a debate… you’re bringing in reporters from all over the nation and sometimes the world.”

Alberda said that moving one of the early primaries to Connecticut would also give voters here a better chance of meeting one or more of the candidates and drawing attention to local issues. Those making an aggressive push in an early primary would likely try to visit as many of the state’s 169 cities and towns as possible, she said.

“That more grassroots, pressing the flesh, face-toface interaction is more common in those earlier states.” Alberda said. “Bringing a candidate to a small town like an Enfield, it generates a lot of excitement and an increased chance of meeting the folks that one of them could become the next president.”

Hosting an early primary or caucus is also seen as a way to potentially boost the prospects of home-state candidates for president, though Iowa and New Hampshire have not performed well in that regard.

In 2020, Connecticut was the last state in the nation to hold a presidential primary, doing so on Aug 11 after the original primary date in April was pushed back due to the pandemic. Changing the primary to an earlier date in February would require legislation approved by lawmakers and the governor.

For DiNardo, Connecticut’s reputation as one national leaders on COVID-19 response, legalizing same-sex marriage and enacting gun control makes the state advantageous for Democrats hoping to draw attention to those issues on a national stage.

“We have been among the first throughout the country in a number of things,” DiNardo said. “We’ve shown that we’ve been a leader in this country and I think besides our diversity, that’s important too.”

According to a report in Politico, Democratic party officials are hoping to come up with a list of states that are geographically balanced as well as diverse. That will make it more difficult for Connecticut to compete against larger and ethnically-diverse states of New York and New Jersey, especially if New Hampshire is not relegated to a later slot, said Ronald Schurin, a professor of political science at the University of Connecticut, Storrs.

“I think it’s kind of a longshot,” Schurin said. “If it’s just us in the Northeast and New England, that might give us a bit of a leg up.”

The selection process now heads to the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee which expected to hear pitches from state party officials in June, according to Politico, before recommending a list of early primaries and caucuses to the full DNC in July.

DiNardo said she will meet with party officials over the next month to develop a formal pitch.