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 block 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.”
