Democrats overhaul party's primary calendar, upending political tradition

PHILADELPHIA >> Upending decades of political tradition, the Democratic National Committee on Saturday approved 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, presidential 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 voted to endorse a proposal that starts the 2024 Democratic presidential primary circuit Feb. 3 in South Carolina, the state that resuscitated Biden's once-flailing candidacy. New Hampshire and Nevada are scheduled to follow on Feb. 6, Georgia on Feb. 13 and 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 stage 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, long has staged 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 — points officials raised Saturday before the voice vote. Some have also warned that Biden could invite a primary challenge from someone camped out in the state, or stoke on-the-ground opposition to his expected reelection bid.