Just days before Democrats were set to gather to decide the order in which states would nominate their Presidential candidate, the 2024 primary calendar remained unclear, driving several states’ officials to duke it out in the public eye.
In an interview one week after the 2022 midterms, Gov. Chris Sununu (R) of historically first-in-the-nation primary state New Hampshire called suggestions that Nevada go first this time “a good laugh.”
Rebecca Lambe, former Chief Political Strategist for late Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) retorted, “I don’t think the DNC should take their advice on this from a Republican governor who wants to run for President against Joe Biden.”
She added that New Hampshire had the “worst, most restrictive voting laws in the country” with no early voting or vote by mail, “and they have made it a lot harder for college students to vote.”
Meanwhile, Michigan and Minnesota are duking it out over which should replace Iowa in the pecking order.
Iowa, whose caucuses have historically been the first contest in the Presidential primary season for both parties, finds itself on the defensive after a fiasco involving an untested app used to tabulate results in 2020. It led to significant delays in election results and raised security concerns.
The snafu put a spotlight on Iowa, highlighting its dearth of racial diversity, leading Democrats toward replacing it as the first Presidential nominee vote ever since.
“Both [Michigan and Minnesota] clearly have a path now to get this done,” Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party chairman Ken Martin said. “We are going to have a spirited discussion over the next couple of weeks.”
Many members of the House Rules and Bylaws Committee responsible for deciding the outcome are awaiting word from the White House, where President Biden has yet to weigh in.
