Dems OK S. Carolina as first voting state in 2024 primaries

Democrats on Saturday officially approved a revamped 2024 presidential primary schedule that will make South Carolina the first state to vote in the nominating process.

The endorsement by the Democratic National Committee of the radical shakeup comes two months after the organization’s rule-making arm voted to yank Iowa as the leadoff state, a position it has held since 1972.

Under the new configuration, South Carolina will hold its primary on Feb. 3. New Hampshire and Nevada will hold their contests three days later.

Georgia will vote on Feb. 13, followed by Michigan on Feb. 27, and the Super Tuesday vote in early March.

The move was proposed in part to increase diversity in the presidential nominating contest, and has been championed by President Joe Biden, who is expected to officially announce his run for re-election in the coming months.

“The Democratic Party looks like America and so does this proposal,” said DNC chair Jaime Harrison, a South Carolinian. The change “continues to make us stronger and elevates the backbone of our party.”

The new lineup comes after a the dreadful 2020 Iowa Caucus, when a glitch in a new app developed to help the vote count instead caused chaos and uncertainty over the results for days. In addition, South Carolina gave Biden a much-needed boost at a time in the campaign when it appeared his bid for the nomination was going nowhere.

Not every politician was upbeat about the revamped line up though, with some decrying the move as tanking Democrats’ chances in the upcoming presidential contest.

Iowa Democratic Party chair Rita Hart claimed Republicans in her state were painting Democrats as having “turned their back on Iowa and on rural America.”

New Hampshire pols previously wrote a letter to the White House warning that the schedule change would harm Democrats’ changes in the Granite State.

“While we share your desire to elevate more diverse voices in the process, we believe that the proposed schedule could wreak havoc on Democrats up and down the ticket in New Hampshire and unnecessarily jeopardize four critical electoral votes in your re-election campaign.”

New Hampshire Democrats also warned that the new party rules clash with a state law mandating that New Hampshire hold the first-in-the nation primary, which Iowa got around by holding caucuses. This could open up the possibility that a candidate runs in a rogue primary in the state against Biden, creating a headache in what should be a shoe-in race. 

“Respecting our state law and lifting up diverse voices need not be mutually exclusive,” said Joanne Dowdell, a New Hampshire DNC rules committee member.

With Post Wires