President Joe Biden is recommending that South Carolina, the state that lifted him to front-runner status in the 2020 primaries, kick off Democrats' 2024 presidential nominating contest, according to a top Democratic source familiar with the plan.
The Democratic National Committee "did not give New Hampshire the first-in-the-nation primary," Buckley said. "It is not theirs to take away. We will be holding our primary first."
“It appears Joe Biden is not just trying to transform America, but he’s attempting to transform the way we elect presidents, and his impact is going to be felt for generations to come,” South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Trav Robertson said.
The White House set out a plan, first reported by The Washington Post and confirmed by NBC News, in which Biden asked for a schedule that had South Carolina's primary first, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada a week later and, after that, Georgia and then Michigan.
In a letter Thursday to the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee, Biden, who did not specify his preferred order of states, wrote, "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."
He also said Democrats "should no longer allow caucuses as part of our nominating process," dealing an expected blow to Iowa.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., called the White House plan “short-sighted” and vowed Thursday to stay the course on the state’s tradition of holding a first-in-the-nation primary, citing a state statute dictating that New Hampshire must hold its primary seven days before any other state.
“As frustrating as this decision is, it holds no bearing over when we choose our primary date," she added. "We look forward to hosting candidates in New Hampshire for the 2024 presidential primary.”
“I want our primary process to reflect the direction of our party,” a committee member said. Michigan offers racial and ethnic diversity, as well as a mix of urban, suburban and rural voters, this person said, adding, “Iowa just doesn’t have that.”
Democrats also flipped the Michigan Legislature, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer won re-election last month, ensuring state support for the new primary date. The state Senate voted Tuesday to move the presidential primary to the second Tuesday in February, a month earlier than its current date.
"It's something that people have been pushing for for a long time. I think it'd be great for our state. I think we'd be a great fit," Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., said Thursday.
In an earlier interview, Cortez Masto said Nevada is "a microcosm" of the U.S.
“You can come into this state when you’re running for president and [if] your message resonates and you win Nevada, then that messaging is going to carry you through the rest of the country,” she said.
Democrats have been revisiting their calendar since 2020, when Iowa Democrats botched their caucuses, a debacle that followed years of criticism that the increasingly Republican state is too red politically and too white demographically to play such a critical role in selecting Democratic nominees.