DNC Ditches Iowa, Chooses South Carolina As First Presidential Primary State To Prioritize Black Voters

The Democratic National Committee a decision to make South Carolina The first voting state in the 2024 presidential primary was Georgia, which it stated was done to prioritise non-white voters.

The move has allowed the Palmetto State to leapfrog both the Palmetto State and the other. Iowa New HampshireBoth have traditionally voted for South Carolina’s president. The DNC says that the decision was made to prioritise black and Latino voters.

“This calendar does what is long overdue,” DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison . “It puts black voters at the front of the process in South Carolina. It keeps Nevada, where Latinos have been building power … And it adds Michigan, the heartland, where unions built the middle class of this nation. And Georgia, the forefront of the new South.”

“The Democratic Party looks like America,” Harrison claimed. “And so does this proposal.”

Voting to elect the Democratic presidential nominee will begin in South Carolina, February 3, 2024. New Hampshire and Nevada will follow on February 6, Georgia on February 13 and Michigan on Feb 27. To comply with the DNC’s recommendation, both Georgia and New Hampshire would need to amend state rules meaning that the schedule has not been officially finalized.

Rita Hart, Iowa Democratic Chair was upset by the decision. She stated that it showed Democrats no longer care about rural voters. The decision was a clear indication that Democrats have lost their rural voter care, she stated. “turned their back on Iowa and rural America.”

Largely beginning in 2016 with former President Donald Trump’s White House victory, rural areas, especially those places with lower-income white people, have voted overwhelmingly Republican, while cities and suburbs have generally favored Democrats.

The move was taken after President Joe Biden, who had indicated to Democrats that he wanted it to happen.

“For decades, Black voters in particular have been the backbone of the Democratic Party but have been pushed to the back of the early primary process,” Biden Write in a December letter. “We rely on these voters in elections but have not recognized their importance in our nominating calendar. It is time to stop taking these voters for granted, and time to give them a louder and earlier voice in the process.”

The move could also boost Biden’s chance if he runs again and is contested, as his 2020 campaign was floundering until he won South Carolina where he was backed by key Democrat leaders.

This decision comes after a chaotic 2020 Iowa primary where no candidate emerged as clear winner due to delays and counting mistakes.