South Carolina is one step away from becoming the first-in-the-nation Democratic presidential primary state for 2028, after the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee voted to recommend it at a meeting Friday.
The proposed calendar will be voted on by the full DNC at its summer meeting next month in Austin, Texas.
The other top contender was Nevada, and the panel grappled with whether the party should prioritize its most consistent voting bloc or the fastest-growing demographic group in the country.
In its presentation before the bylaws committee in May, South Carolina representatives argued that it should remain the first primary state in light of the Supreme Court decision on the Voting Rights Act and its impact on Black representation in the South. The Palmetto State also held the first Democratic presidential primary in 2024.
South Carolina advocates have said that removing its status as the first primary contest now would be a “slap in the face” to the Democratic Party’s Black voter base.
“This decision is bigger than South Carolina. It’s about whether the Democratic Party will stand with the voters who have stood with the party through everything,” South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Christale Spain said in May. “Will Democrats meet this moment by supporting the communities on the front lines of defending democracy, or will the Democratic Party tell their most faithful voters they no longer deserve to lead the primary process?”
Advocates for Nevada argued it should be first to weigh in on the presidential nominee because it most closely represents a coalition Democrats need to win nationally. Nevada, they said, includes groups whose support for Democrats has been eroding, like working-class voters, Latinos, Asian American Pacific Islanders, men and low-propensity voters.
Nevada Democratic Party Chair Daniele Monroe-Moreno echoed this sentiment Friday during the debate over the proposed calendar order.
“Nonpartisan voter registration is the largest voter registration bloc in America now. Why? Because people are mad at both sides of the aisle,” Monroe-Moreno said.
And as Democrats consider their nomination calendar, she told the committee, “My state, the state of Nevada, is that coalition that we need to win back.”
The committee also voted on the other states that will hold the earliest presidential nomination contests in 2028, settling on these states and dates:
- South Carolina: Jan. 22, 2028
- Nevada: Feb. 1, 2028
- New Mexico: Feb. 15, 2028
- Michigan: Feb. 22, 2028
- Virginia: Feb. 29, 2028
- Super Tuesday: March 7, 2028
Spain told CBS News in an interview after Friday’s meeting that the calendar gives significant weight to Latinos and expands the party’s reach.
“What we did also is expand our map in a way that I don’t think we’ve ever even imagined that we could by adding New Mexico,” Spain said. It “adds a plethora of opportunities to engage with the Latino community,” she added.
DNC Chairman Ken Martin has sought to ensure that the calendar selection process has been as democratic as possible.
In remarks Thursday, Martin said that he and the Rules and Bylaws Committee had taken pains to avoid repeating the 2024 selection process, and he criticized former President Biden for cutting the party out of the decision-making.
In 2022, Biden sent a letter to DNC leaders, urging them to make South Carolina the first nominating contest in 2024. The letter upended the debate in the Rules and Bylaws Committee about the order of the nominating contests, and the party ultimately complied with his request. In 2020, Biden had lost the earliest contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, and it was his overwhelming victory in South Carolina that salvaged his candidacy.
Martin said Biden’s push to make South Carolina the first primary created “an unfortunate ending” to the selection process, and the party “had the outcome dictated to us.”
But a president running for reelection, as Biden was in 2024, is the de facto head of the party and wields significant power over the nomination process and the party platform and messaging.
This year, Martin said the committee is trying to set a calendar that ensures a rigorous process that will battle-test presidential candidates and will not be too costly ahead of the general campaign.
“What we did was about making sure we’re in the best possible position to win. But it’s also setting down a marker of where our values are, what our party stands for, and most importantly, who we’re fighting for,” Martin said.
