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DNC Panel Supports Biden’s Plan to Make South Carolina First Primary in 2024


WASHINGTON — In the face of opposition from some Democratic state leaders, the Democratic National Committee on Friday took a step closer to enacting President Biden’s vision in a drastic way. overhaul of the party’s 2024 presidential preliminary processas a key committee voted to propose sweeping changes to the calendar.

At the DNC Rules and Regulations Committee’s day-long meeting at a Washington hotel ballroom, members voted to recommend that the 2024 Democratic primary election schedule begin. South Carolina on February 3, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada on February 6. Georgia on February 13 and then Michigan on February 27.

That plan reflects a framework Mr. Biden delivered to the committee on Thursday that emphasizes racial and geographic diversity. Representatives from Iowa and New Hampshire voted against the proposal, and officials stressed that the Rules Committee’s move is a step in a process that could still be lengthy and controversial. The states were initially proposed to have until January 5 to confirm that they could hold primaries on the scheduled date.

The recommendation, which reverses the traditional Democratic order in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, must be endorsed by the entire DNC at a meeting in early February, but Biden’s preferences carry a lot of weight. big for the party committee.

The proposed new ordinance rewards several states that have fueled his political growth in 2020, elevating diverse, working-class constituencies and in some cases, those More moderate elections were crucial to Biden’s primary victory. At the same time, the smaller states that have long emphasized retail politics – Iowa and New Hampshire – will be toned down.

“Given the president’s strong interest in the design of the 2024 primaries and the dates for the elections,” said James Roosevelt Jr., co-chair of the Rules and Regulations Committee. That election, I think it’s clear that he’s running. spoke to Mr. Biden this week about the state’s initial order.

Mr. Biden has said that he plan to run again but plans to discuss the race with his family. If he does not run, the schedule, if approved, will help other candidates gain strong support from voters of color who make up the backbone of the Democratic Party.

Black voters make up more than half of the Democrats who voted in the 2020 South Carolina primaries. according to exit vote. And they make up a significant portion of the primary voters in Georgia and Michigan. Latino voters play a particularly important role in Nevada.

But the shift could also hurt candidates who don’t have the campaign money to quickly compete in the early states with expensive media markets — like Nevada, Georgia, and even the United States. New Hampshire, where Boston broadcasters raised prices. The fast pace of the proposed calendar could force competitors with smaller bank accounts to choose to compete in only one or two of the first three states.

“One of the things New Hampshire is known for is our retail politics, and candidates have the opportunity to come in for direct contact,” said Joanne Dowdell, a DNC member from New Hampshire who opposed the proposal. with voters. “By having three states, one on top of the other, I think it creates a bit of a conflict for candidates who are trying to get attention, get recognition and also raise funds.”

Jeff Link, a longtime Des Moines employee, said removing the Iowa caucuses from the Democratic presidential nomination process would reduce the importance of organizing, which is central to the campaign. political culture of the state.

That could hurt the party nationally, he said, by removing a key proof base for Democrats’ field executives.

“Instead of having a big field operation, they will have a big social media operation,” says Mr. “There will be fewer people talking to other people during the campaign. One of the benefits of holding the caucus early is that for three decades we have trained campaign staff on how to organize one by one.”

Other objections were much greater, especially from two states that were used to being on the front lines.

New Hampshire has long held the nation’s first primaries as the State law issuesand government officials said they intend to follow that law rather than any party decision. And the Iowa Democratic chairman noted in a statement that the country’s longtime lead caucus state has a law that “requires us to hold caucuses by the last Tuesday of February and before any any other election.” Scott Brennan, a member of the Rules Committee from Iowa, said the decision on timing will be up to the state central committee and elected officials.

It’s not just political influence and bragging rights that are at stake: Studies of the economic impact of past caucuses in Iowa and New Hampshire primaries have found that spending hundreds of millions of dollars, most of it for TV advertising, although these numbers are down in each state’s annual economic activity pool.

The party has powerful tools to force nations to comply.

DNC rules agreed earlier this year stipulate notable consequences for any state that goes ahead to operate outside of the party’s agreed-upon early window, including cut the number of committed delegates and substitutes for the state in question. Notably, candidates campaigning in such states will also face consequences.

“If a candidate chooses to campaign in a state that operates out of the window, they will lose delegates from that state,” said Roosevelt. “They may have other penalties, because the chair is empowered to get through that.”

Some officials have suggested that they are willing to take those risks.

Raymond Buckley, Chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, said: “For decades we have said we would take any sanctions.

The willingness or unwillingness of Republicans to change the date may also be relevant in some states, including Republican-controlled Georgia. A spokesman for Governor Brian Kemp did not respond to a question Friday afternoon about his response to the Democrats’ proposal. The primary election date was set by Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, who declined to comment on the Democratic process on Friday.

“Our focus is on ensuring the security and integrity of the election that is currently taking place, and we will review the entire process for possible improvements once this election is complete. public,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Jordan Fuchs as Georgia hosted an election. Senate flow. However, she noted in a statement, “Our legal team has repeatedly stated that primaries on both sides must take place on the same day and must not lose any delegates. any.”

Republicans agreed to their own stub state lineup consisting of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

The Rules and Regulations committee vote comes a day after Mr. Biden sent a letter to members setting out his criteria for the early voting deadline. In it, he turned down caucuses – dealing a fatal blow to the struggling caucuses in Iowa, which struggle for days to deliver results in 2020.

After Mr. Biden finished fourth in Iowa and fifth in New Hampshire, two states with high percentages of white voters, he showed new signs of political life in Nevada. And it was the South Carolina primaries, with large numbers of Black voters, that revived his candidacy and put him through Super Tuesday and into the nomination.

“Defense, education, agriculture, manufacturing – South Carolina is the perfect lab,” said Representative James E. Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat who endorsed Biden in 2020. played a key role in the presidential victory in this state. “That’s why the people who do well in South Carolina end up doing pretty well overall.”

Mr. Clyburn said he had urged Mr. Biden to keep South Carolina within the state’s priority term – “first, second, third or fourth, it doesn’t matter to me” – but he was aware of the possibility. The state could upgrade to the primary on Thursday from the president.

Jaime Harrison, president of the DNC, also from South Carolina, said he discovered at State Thursday Night Dinner.

Mr. Biden urged the Rules and Regulations Committee to review the biennial calendar and the committee accept the modification to do that process.

“Nevada still has the strongest argument for being the first national primaries,” Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, state senators, said in a joint statement. “We will continue to make our case for 2028.”

Reid J. Epstein contribution reports from New Orleans, Lisa Leer from New York, and Gabriel’s trip from Des Moines.

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