Dems to Begin Discussing '28 Primary Calendar This Month

The Democratic National Committee will start discussing the 2028 presidential primary calendar this month at a meeting in Minneapolis, DNC Chair Ken Martin told The Hill on Sunday.

Martin added that a newly composed panel of the DNC, the Rules and Bylaws Committee, "will start this conversation by putting forward the rules and procedures and start to really figure out how we're going to engage in this."

He said the entire process should take about a year to complete and that he anticipates the primary dates to be set by the end of 2026.

Martin, who said he expects a crowded Democrat presidential primary field in 2028, emphasized that he wants the process deciding on the calendar to comply with three principles: "One, it has to be rigorous. Two, it has to be efficient. Three, it has to be fair. It has to be rigorous, in the sense that it battle tests our nominee and prepares them for the general election."

The DNC chair explained that it has to be efficient in a way that "we don't bankrupt our candidates in the early part of this process," since "we want them to have resources for the general election because the only prize that matters is November."

Martin, who was elected DNC chair in February, added that it has to be fair in that it permits "all of our candidates ... to actually compete in those early states."

When asked, in hindsight, if the decision in 2024 to heed former President Joe Biden's request to shift the primary calendar to favor South Carolina and Michigan — states in which Biden was expected to perform well — was a mistake, Martin stressed that any state that wants an early primary date should be permitted to bid for one and be considered.

Brian Freeman ✉

Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.