South Carolina will kick off the Democratic presidential primary in 2028, cementing a victory that emerged from months of bruising state-by-state combat to reshape the party's nominating calendar.
The Democratic National Committee's rules committee was set to recommend the change Friday, with the full DNC expected to rubber-stamp it at a summer meeting. The decision settles a contentious battle that pitted South Carolina against Nevada and other challengers, ultimately sidelining Iowa and elevating a new cast of early voters who will help define the Democratic nominee from the starting gun.
The fight turned personal and pointed. South Carolina's Democratic establishment weaponized the state's role as the backbone of the party's Black voter coalition, framing the primary calendar as a referendum on whose votes mattered most. Nevada countered with aggressive lobbying from Latino groups, labor leaders, and state officials, warning that Democrats hemorrhage working-class voters by ignoring the states where they actually compete.
"Black voters are the backbone of this party, and so we should continue to elevate Black voters' role in the process, not push it further back," South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Christale Spain said during the final push for support.
The South Carolina camp seized momentum after the Supreme Court gutted portions of the Voting Rights Act, a development that allowed Republican-controlled legislatures to dismantle majority-minority districts. Party figures like Donna Brazile invoked the Civil Rights Movement and the specter of voting rights under siege to argue that placing South Carolina first sent a message about Democratic values.
Michigan also secured the right to hold an early contest, and the DNC signaled it could add two more states before finalizing the schedule. Nevada and New Hampshire will retain early-voting slots, though Iowa appears headed out of the prestigious opening window entirely.
The reshuffling marks the latest convulsion in a nominating calendar that Iowa and New Hampshire dominated for decades. A catastrophic 2020 Iowa caucus collapse, combined with pressure to elevate racially diverse states, triggered the overhaul. President Joe Biden pushed through the changes four years ago, moving South Carolina to the front after it had resurrected his foundering 2020 campaign with a commanding victory powered by Black voters.
The stakes for early contests remain enormous. Biden's 2020 path to the nomination might never have materialized without South Carolina's early win, which signaled viability after disappointing finishes in whiter, earlier states. Similarly, Bernie Sanders' strength in Iowa and New Hampshire in 2016 sent a jolt through the Democratic establishment.
Beyond the calendar itself, the DNC is preparing to enforce compliance with teeth. New punishments for states that defy the party's calendar will include stripping all delegates, levying a $270,000 fine against state parties, and barring candidates from official party debates if they campaign in unsanctioned contests. The party is also making it harder to reverse these penalties later, closing escape hatches that have allowed states like New Hampshire to flout the rules and escape punishment.
Republican-controlled legislatures in some states that pitched for early slots, including Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, declined to move primary dates or refused to cooperate, effectively blocking those campaigns. Republicans are not expected to make substantial changes to their own calendar ahead of their wide-open 2028 contest.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "South Carolina's win reflects a deliberate party choice to center Black voters at the opening of the race, but Nevada's loss signals that the Democratic coalition still hasn't settled on how to balance the clout of different voting blocs."
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