Democrats move to upend their presidential nominating calendar

The Democratic National Committee is taking a major step to shake up its longstanding presidential primary and caucus calendar that has been led by Iowa and New Hampshire for decades.

The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee on Wednesday voted to require those two states, as well as Nevada and South Carolina, which hold the third and fourth contests in the DNC’s schedule, to reapply for early state status in the 2024 calendar. Other states that are interested in moving up to the top of the calendar may also apply.

The move by the Rules and Bylaws panel, which oversees the party’s presidential nominating calendar, would also potentially allow for a fifth state to obtain carve-out status, meaning it would get to hold its presidential nominating primary ahead of March 2024, when the remaining states are allowed start holding their contests.

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Iowa’s caucuses have kicked off both the Democratic and Republican nominating calendars for half a century, and New Hampshire has held the first-in-the-nation presidential primary for a century.

But the knock for years against both states among many Democrats has been that they are too White, lack any major urban areas, and aren’t representative of a Democratic Party that’s become increasingly diverse over the past several decades. Nevada and South Carolina are much more diverse than either Iowa or New Hampshire.

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Complicating matters, Nevada Democrats last year passed a bill into law that would transform the state’s presidential caucus into a primary and aim to move the contest to the leadoff position in the race for the White House, ahead of Iowa and New Hampshire. And compounding Iowa's issues was the botched reporting of the 2020 caucuses, which became a national and international story and an embarrassment for Iowa Democrats as well as the DNC.

Iowa’s leadoff status faced scrutiny last month at the DNC’s winter meeting, as many members who spoke were clearly open to reordering the presidential nominating calendar to better reflect the party’s growing diversity and values.

Among those speaking at the meeting was DNC member Mo Elleithee, who has long been a proponent of shaking up the calendar. He emphasized there is a need for changes, "not four years from now — now."

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"I think states like New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina can make a compelling argument as to how they fit into that picture," Elleithee, who is also a Fox News contributor, said. "I have a harder time seeing it with Iowa, but Iowa should have the right to make that case to us."

The move by the Rules and Bylaws Committee will now require states hoping to retain or earn early state status to submit a letter of intent no later than May 6, with a formal application due a month later. Those states will make their presentations to the committee in late June, with the panel making its recommendations for the new nominating calendar lineup by early July. The full DNC membership will vote on the 2024 calendar when the national party convenes its summer meeting later in the summer.

Besides the four current four early voting states, Michigan and New Jersey have indicated that they’ll apply for carve-out status.

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The Rules and Bylaws Committee’s plan includes factors that it will take into consideration as it decides which states will go first in the 2024 calendar. They include racial, ethnic, and regional diversity, a state’s mix of urban, suburban, and rural voters, and a state’s competitiveness in general elections.

Iowa Democratic Party chair Ross Wilburn said in a statement that "Iowa will absolutely be applying to be in the early window and we will look forward to enthusiastically making our case. The Iowa Democratic Party will also be engaging with numerous stakeholders all over Iowa to explore substantive changes to the caucuses that would make them more straightforward, transparent and accessible, addressing concerns that some members of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee have expressed." 

New Hampshire executive director Troy Price asserted to Fox News in a statement that New Hampshire will retain its position in the calendar. "New Hampshire has a great story to tell, and we look forward to sharing that in the coming weeks and months," he said. "But, make no mistake, New Hampshire will retain its first-in-the-nation primary."

While the DNC moves to alter its nominating calendar, there’s been no such move at the rival Republican National Committee. 

An RNC panel overseeing the nominating calendar voted during the national party’s winter meeting in early February to make no changes to the current schedule. 

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The panel was headed by Iowa GOP chair Jeff Kaufmann and included the chairs of the New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada state Republican parties. The full RNC membership voted unanimously on Thursday at their spring meeting in Memphis, Tennessee, to approve the panel's recommendation to make no changes to their 2024 calendar.