Democrats Finalize 2028 Calendar That Moves Racially Diverse States To The Front

Democrats just officially signed off on their new 2028 roadmap.

The Democratic National Committee on Saturday voted to approve a revamped primary calendar for the next presidential election that elevates several more racially diverse states — and scrambles the political calculus for several likely candidates.

South Carolina will kick off the sprint to Super Tuesday under the plan that packs six primaries into six weeks. After that contest on Jan. 22, Democrats will head to Nevada on Feb. 1, New Hampshire on Feb. 8, New Mexico on Feb. 15, Michigan on Feb. 22 and Virginia on Feb. 29.

Ken Martin, the DNC’s embattled chair, praised the new early primary lineup as a group of states “that truly represent our party and our values.”

“Our 2028 nominee, whoever they are, will have to earn the support across the full breadth of America: every region, every demographic, every generation, every economic station in life,” Martin told DNC members at their summer meeting in Austin. The calendar "will battle-test our nominee, it will require them to earn support from every corner of this coalition … and it will put them in the strongest possible position not just to win a primary, but to win back the White House.”

The vote was not without some last-minute drama. Iowa Democrats pushed back against a calendar that cements the end of their reign atop the lineup after national Democrats moved to jettison the state following its botched 2020 caucuses. Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart argued Saturday that the 2028 plan “excludes huge swaths of the country and the voters Democrats need to win” and hands Republicans who are likely to keep the Hawkeye State in their early lineup “a giant media bullhorn.”

Iowa Democrats have previously threatened to skirt the DNC’s calendar. But the DNC is ratcheting up sanctions both on state parties and on candidates who try to go rogue to tamp down on such scenarios.

New Hampshire could also throw a wrench in Democrats’ plans. The state has a law that requires it hold its primary a week before any similar contest, a rule that Democrats are not going to be able to convince Republicans, who hold a trifecta in controlling the state government, to overturn. The DNC is asking New Hampshire Democrats to hold a party-run process on their designated date instead.

New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley called Saturday’s vote “disappointing” in a statement. But he didn’t indicate how the state party will proceed, saying: “We will continue making the case to ensure that Granite Staters have a meaningful voice in choosing the next Democratic nominee for president.”

Democrats’ new calendar is designed to give more voice to traditionally Democratic voting blocs who’ve shifted right in recent years. Members of the panel tasked with drafting the calendar had fiercely debated between South Carolina and Nevada for the top slot as they searched for ways to shore up Black Democratic power in the South after the Supreme Court moved to gut the Voting Rights Act, while also amplifying Latino and working-class voters in a top battleground. The calendar they settled on attempts to do both by putting those states at the front of the line and adding two more with similar demographic makeups to the early window: New Mexico and Virginia.

The changes could upend how several would-be candidates approach coalition-building after years of starting off in heavily white states. Potential contenders have been making the rounds to states like South Carolina, Nevada and New Hampshire over the past year, but they’ll now have to build networks in new places. Nevada and Michigan are swing states whose November elections this year — particularly the latter’s high-stakes Senate race — could tip the scales in the party’s ideological war and shape how candidates approach those states in the presidential race.

The calendar process isn’t entirely over. Democrats in each state will still have to formalize their primary dates, whether through their secretaries of state or legislatures. And Republicans have not yet set their calendar for 2028.