The Democratic Party has taken a small step toward setting a date for the 2028 presidential primary, telling 12 state parties that they can formally announce their candidacies to hold nomination contests at the beginning of the process.
Party leaders informed the 12 states at a party conference in Puerto Rico on Saturday that traditional early states like South Carolina, Iowa and New Hampshire want to stay at the front, while battleground states like Georgia and North Carolina are looking to jump ahead.
Democrats will ultimately choose one state from each of the party’s four regions and hold early nomination races ahead of Super Tuesday in March, setting the stage for the remaining primary contests. The party can also select a fifth state from the region to join that early window.
Both Democrats and Republicans are guarding early spots on the presidential nominating calendar because these states have so much influence over the process and help shape the strategy and narrative surrounding the pivotal primaries.
Following a volatile 2020 primary calendar, controversy over the 2024 date, and a disappointing Democratic presidential election, major party leaders, including National Party Chairman Ken Martin, have emphasized the importance of revamping the nominating calendar.
Twelve states submitted applications for party consideration earlier this month, and at a meeting Saturday, the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee voted to advance all of those applications to the next round.
States vying for early slots in the Eastern region include New Hampshire, which has hosted one of the party’s early campaign races for decades, and Delaware, former President Joe Biden’s home state.
The Midwest region’s candidates include two of the usual suspects. Iowa had long been the first state in the country to hold a nominating contest, until the failure of the 2020 Democratic caucuses eroded the party’s influence and jeopardized its status as an early nominating state, while Michigan was granted the right to hold an early state primary in 2024, when the Democratic nomination was not seriously contested. Illinois, former President Barack Obama’s home state, also applied for an early slot.
The southern region will be even more crowded. South Carolina, a historic early primary state that has traditionally tested candidates’ mettle with black voters, is also filing again. But in addition to Georgia, which has become the most battleground state in recent years, so do North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Rounding out the list in the West are Democrats in Nevada, another historic early candidate state with a large Latino population, and newcomer New Mexico.
The next step for these states is a formal presentation before party members, who will quickly decide on a schedule for the coming months.
A small number of state parties’ applications raise the fact that some applications would require Republican support to legally change certain primary election dates. These states include Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. It’s possible that Republican lawmakers would greenlight the change if they believe the state would benefit from more attention during the nomination calendar, but it’s also possible that those lawmakers would stick to their guns.
Democrats and Republicans have agreed for decades to share an early nomination calendar, but their schedules have diverged in recent years. While Republicans continue to embrace the historic role of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina in the early stages, Democrats say they want to consider other options they believe better reflect the party’s values and narrow down the final presidential nominee.
In a statement released shortly after the meeting, Rules and Bylaws Committee co-chairs Mignon Moore and James Roosevelt Jr. said the meeting was “another important step toward creating a nominating calendar that will produce a strong, seasoned Democratic candidate to take back the White House in 2028.”
Party leaders said key dynamics to consider when setting the schedule include keeping the calendar practical and relying on states that have proven they can effectively run a fair nominating contest, while ensuring candidates pass the tough conditions that test them with key voting blocs.
The strained relationship between the two sides became clear at a rules and bylaws meeting held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Saturday. The rally came days after the FBI seized ballots and records related to the 2020 election in Georgia and comes amid a national reckoning over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown following the killing of two people by federal agents in Minnesota this month.
Nevada Democratic Party Chairman Danielle Monroe Moreno said the state needs to have a “plan to protect voter files,” but warned that the full details of that plan should not be revealed. “Republicans are watching us now, too, and when states come before us to make presentations, if they reveal the details, they’re handing their strategy over to their opponents.”
Cristóbal Alex, a D.C. commissioner and one of the founders of the Latino Victory Project, cited the Trump administration’s “horrible” deportation policies during a brief discussion of Iowa’s application.
“We know what’s at stake in this country in this upcoming presidential election, and my question for Iowa and all states is how do we ensure that our communities that MAGA has declared war on are the very communities whose voices will be heard loud and clear, and that the next president fully understands and represents those communities,” he asked.
