Dems Set Jan Deadline for Primaries    10/28 06:15

   

   COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Not even a year out from the last presidential 
election, the Democratic National Committee has begun setting up a framework 
for the party's next round of presidential primary elections, which could upend 
the early-voting calendar yet again.

   The Rules and Bylaws Committee of the Democratic National Committee on 
Monday approved a plan giving states until January 16 to submit applications to 
hold voting contests in the early window ahead of Super Tuesday, when a massive 
haul of delegates will be awarded.

   Four or five states will get an early slot, and all four regions -- East, 
Midwest, South and West -- must be represented, according to the framework.

   No huge tranche of delegates is necessarily at stake in the early-voting 
contests, but their heft has traditionally played a pivotal role for candidates 
seeking to lead their parties, with heavy travel rotations meaning high 
visibility for the states involved.

   "We are committed to executing a fair and transparent process that will 
deliver a battle-tested nominee who will win back the White House for 
Democrats," the committee co-chairs Minyon Moore and James Roosevelt, Jr. said 
in a joint statement.

   It will be months -- and potentially years -- before the 2028 calendar is 
set. In June, several members of new DNC Chairman Ken Martin's leadership team 
said the party was considering scrambling its voting order for the next 
election cycle. That also happened in 2024, when -- at President Joe Biden's 
behest -- South Carolina hosted the Democrats' first-in-the-nation contest, 
giving the incumbent president a resounding win in the state that had helped 
resurrect his flagging campaign four years earlier.

   That move was also a nod to the party's loyal base of Black voters, while 
adding Georgia and Michigan to the so-called early window.

   At some level, the next presidential primary has already begun -- 
informally, at least. A half dozen presidential prospects have already begun to 
make early pilgrimages to the states that topped the calendar last time: South 
Carolina, New Hampshire and Iowa chief among them.

   As Democratic officials gathered in Martin's home state of Minnesota for 
their summer meeting earlier this year, there were several private 
conversations about whether South Carolina, which is a reliably Republican 
state, should be replaced by another Southern state that is considered a swing 
state in the general election. North Carolina and Georgia are considered the 
early favorites if a change is made.

   Martin himself said South Carolina could lose its top spot. But he expressed 
confidence that a state with a large Black population, if not South Carolina, 
would be featured prominently in the Democrats' next nomination process.

   "Clearly, the most reliable constituency of the Democratic Party are Black 
voters, and they will have a prominent role in the selection of our nominee," 
Martin said then. "And whether it's South Carolina or some other states, rest 
assured that making sure that there's a state in the mix that actually will 
battle test your nominee with African American voters is really critical to 
making sure we can win in November."

   New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley, one of the few veterans 
who retained their seat on Rules and Bylaws, previously noted that New 
Hampshire is bound by state law to host the nation's opening presidential 
primary election regardless of the DNC's wishes.

   New Hampshire, of course, bucked the DNC's 2024 calendar. And Iowa has 
threatened to go rogue as well in 2028 if its skipped over again.

   In a release issued after Monday's vote, Nevada State Democratic Party 
Executive Director Hilary Barrett said her state should go first, calling 
Nevada "the only state that meets all of the DNC's new early state criteria set 
forth with unmatchable rigorousness, efficiency, and fairness."

   Christale Spain, chair of South Carolina's Democratic Party, advocated for 
her state to yet again lead the calendar, saying in a statement that "South 
Carolina's diverse electorate highlights the importance of amplifying the 
voices of historically underrepresented communities."