RNC votes for Iowa, New Hampshire to retain status as first contests of 2024 primary

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The Republican National Committee is sticking with tradition.

The RNC full membership on Thursday voted unanimously make no changes to their 2024 presidential nominating calendar, keeping Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada as the four early voting states.

The vote, at the RNC’s spring training meeting in Memphis, Tennessee, approved recommendations passed by a committee at the national party’s winter meeting in February. That panel was chaired by Iowa GOP chair Jeff Kaufmann and included the Republican Party chairs of New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

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"Thank you  @GOPChairwoman and the entire RNC for reaffirming the rules that allow Iowa to hold our First in the Nation caucuses. Iowans take their responsibility seriously and stand ready to kick off our nation’s presidential nominating process!" Kaufmann tweeted minutes after the vote.

New Hampshire GOP chair Steve Stepanek told Fox News that "the RNC supports the carve-out states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada. We do it right in New Hampshire, and the RNC sees the tremendous value in continuing this schedule for the upcoming presidential primary."

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The RNC reaffirmation of its schedule came a day after the rival Democratic National Committee took a major step to shake up its longstanding presidential primary and caucus calendar, which 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.

FILE - The Iowa Caucuses exhibit in Des Moines, Iowa (Fox News)

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.

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.

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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.

New Hampshire has held the first-in-the-nation presidential primary for a century. A sign outside the state capitol in Concord, NH marks the state's treasured primary status. (Fox News )

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.

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