- Joined
- May 11, 2013
- Posts
- 24,890
- Reaction score
- 13,614
- Points
- 2,755
- Location
- Morganton, N.C.
- Website
- conversations-ii.freeforums.net
USA Today: Biden recommends South Carolina go first in Democratic primary process, replacing Iowa
President Joe Biden is recommending a massive overhaul of the presidential nominating calendar, calling for South Carolina to replace Iowa in the leadoff position and elevate Michigan and Georgia into the mix. Biden has proposed that South Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Georgia and Michigan make up the early voting window.
Scott Brennan, a member of the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee confirmed the proposed changes to the Des Moines Register Thursday. The committee met privately in Washington, D.C., before public meetings began Friday where the committee leaders briefed the members. "Our party should no longer allow caucuses as part of our nominating process," Biden said in a letter to the committee. "We must ensure that voters of color have a voice in choosing our nominee much earlier in the process and throughout the entire early window."
The moves would displace Iowa from its decades-long position at the front of the line and elevate new voices into the early voting window — a decision that, if approved, would upend 50 years of political precedent and remake the way America picks its presidents. "These are only recommendations and we will continue to fight for Iowa's place in the nominating process," Brennan said.
The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, which meets through Saturday in Washington, D.C., still needs to approve the proposal before it can head to a vote of the full DNC early next year.
But already, New Hampshire, which has a state law mandating it hold the nation's first primary election, is saying it will go rogue. “The DNC did not give New Hampshire the first-in-the-nation primary and it is not theirs to take away," New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley released the following statement. "This news is obviously disappointing, but we will be holding our primary first. We have survived past attempts over the decades and we will survive this."