National Democratic Party leaders have set the dates for the early voting contests as the party picks a presidential nominee — and the Iowa Democratic Party’s Caucuses are not on the list. Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart says national Democrats didn’t learn from the mistake of kicking the Caucuses out of their lead-off role in 2024.
The party’s new 2028 calendar flips South Carolina’s presidential primary into the lead-off spot, followed by Nevada, then New Hampshire. In 2024, New Hampshire officials ignored the shuffled calendar national Democrats came up with and still held their presidential primary first, which is required by New Hampshire’s constitution. The party’s plan to have Georgia host an early Democratic presidential primary never happened, either. Hart says all that chaos for Democrats is likely again in 2028 — meanwhile Iowa Republicans will hold first-in-the-nation Caucuses in 2028.
Rob Sand, the Iowa Democratic Party’s candidate for governor, and Josh Turek — the party’s U-S Senate nominee — have both said Iowa Democrats should follow Iowa law and hold their Caucuses first, too. Some Iowa Democrats have said hosting the Caucuses diverted attention from local races and their party should concede first-in-the-nation to other states. The Democratic National Committee has voted to add New Mexico and Virginia to its list of early 2028 presidential primaries and picked Michigan rather than Iowa or Illinois to hold a primary on February 22nd.
