The Democratic Party’s presidential nominating calendar had featured Iowa first from 1972 to 2020.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) voted on Aug. 15 to approve the first six states for its 2028 presidential nominating calendar, with South Carolina set to be the party’s first primary contest.
The Democratic Party’s new primary schedule removes Iowa and New Hampshire from the traditional first caucus and primary contests, replacing them with the first primary in South Carolina on Jan. 22, 2028, and the second primary in Nevada on Feb. 1, 2028. The committee’s plan also includes primary contests in New Hampshire on Feb. 8, 2028, New Mexico on Feb. 15, 2028, Michigan on Feb. 22, 2028, and Virginia on Feb. 29, 2028.
“The DNC has delivered a 2028 nominating calendar that truly represents our party and our values, and will help us retake the White House in 2028,” DNC Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement following Saturday’s vote, which took place during the committee’s summer meeting in Austin, Texas.
Martin said that for candidates to win in the general election, “You have to be battle-tested in a way that you already have campaigned in front of and for the support of various communities throughout the country.”
Iowa’s Democratic caucuses had been featured first in the party’s presidential nominating calendar from 1972 to 2020. The Democratic Party started making changes to the nominating calendar after the reporting system for the 2020 Iowa caucuses led to results being delayed for days.
President Joe Biden proposed a change in 2022 to make South Carolina the first primary for the Democratic Party’s 2024 nominating calendar. The change, later approved by the committee, helped Biden gain momentum ahead of Super Tuesday.
As the first-in-the-South primary, South Carolina was more decisive than Iowa and New Hampshire for nominees Barack Obama in 2008, Hillary Clinton in 2016, and Biden in 2020. All three dominated among South Carolina’s large black population, which can yield more than half the state’s Democratic primary electorate.
With Nevada and New Mexico following, that will require candidates to court more Latino voters early in the process.
