In a move that upends nearly 50 years of tradition, members of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) – which oversees one of the two major political parties in the United States – have voted to reshuffle their primary calendar for the 2024 presidential race.
South Carolina is now set to open the nominating schedule, followed by votes in New Hampshire and Nevada a week later.
The decision is slated to bump the Midwestern state of Iowa from the top spot. Since 1972, Iowa has kicked off the presidential nomination process with its first-in-the-nation caucuses.
While the shake-up is expected to be confirmed by the full DNC in a vote early next year, the move, announced on Friday, signals a power shift in US politics, as Democrats focus on building a more diverse voter base.
In the US, presidential nominees for the Republican and Democratic parties are determined through a series of state-by-state primary elections and caucuses. States that vote before Super Tuesday – the day when the greatest number of states hold their primaries – are thought to influence the outcome of each party’s nomination.
Friday’s decision comes in the wake of a letter issued by US President Joe Biden calling on the DNC to abandon “restrictive and anti-worker” caucuses that require voters to appear in person at “a set location at a set time” to participate.
Biden’s letter – written on personal stationery, rather than the White House’s – also emphasised the need to prioritise Black voters in the party’s presidential selection process.
“For decades, Black voters, in particular, have been the backbone of the Democratic Party but have been pushed to the back of the early primary process,” Biden wrote.
“We rely on these voters in elections but have not recognised their importance in our nominating calendar. It is time to stop taking these voters for granted and time to give them a louder and earlier voice in the process.”
Black voters in South Carolina are credited with helping to keep Biden’s presidential ambitions alive in a close primary race in 2020. Early votes in Iowa and New Hampshire that year showed Biden trailing in fourth and fifth place, respectively, behind other Democratic hopefuls.
