Democrats vote to move forward with Biden plan to put South Carolina first on 2024 primary calendar

 
INA-sources
 
The rule-making arm of the Democratic National Committee on Friday voted to approve a proposal to drastically reshape the 2024 presidential nominating calendar and make South Carolina the first state to hold a primary, followed by Nevada and New Hampshire on the same day a few days later, and then Georgia and Michigan before Super Tuesday.
 
President Joe Biden this week asked DNC leaders to adopt this early state lineup, which strips Iowa of its first-in-the-nation status. The proposal by the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee needs to be approved at a full DNC meeting, which will take place early next year, and states will still need to set their own primary dates.
 
The DNC rules panel proposed that the 2024 presidential calendar schedule South Carolina’s primary on February 3, Nevada and New Hampshire’s contests on February 6, Georgia’s primary on February 13 and Michigan’s on February 27.
 
The proposal passed overwhelmingly, with the only objection coming from the members from Iowa and New Hampshire. Iowa has gone first in the nominating process since 1972, while New Hampshire has held the first primary in the process since 1920.
 
Enacting these new dates could prove to be a steep challenge. Primary dates are set at the state level and each state has a different process. In Georgia, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is responsible for selecting a single date to hold both the Democratic and Republican primaries. In Nevada, the proposed date aligns with a state law passed last year. But Democrats, who control the state legislature, still may have a hard time should they need to enact another law to change the date of their contest after their new Republican governor takes office next month. In South Carolina, each party is free to select their own primary date.
 
The new Democratic lineup would break with the Republican calendar, as the Republican National Committee voted earlier this year to reaffirm the early state lineup of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. That could cause conflict for the new states hoping to move up, as their Republican parties could risk sanctions from the national GOP if their state primaries are held too early.
 
Source: CNN