Pressure is ramping up on the Democratic Party to lay out its 2028 presidential primary calendar, Politico reported.
Prospective candidates have already begun appearing in states that typically vote early, including Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, and Michigan.
"Candidates are going to be strategic, and the calendar is a big factor for them," Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., a member of the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee, told Politico. "People need to know we've already got people campaigning."
Advocates for early states will meet with DNC members at the national party's summer meeting in Minnesota this week, three people told Politico. The DNC has said work to set the primary calendar hasn't begun and discussions will start later this year.
In 2022, President Joe Biden pushed to make South Carolina first in the primary calendar, usurping the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire. New Hampshire, which has a state law requiring that its primary be first in the nation, held its own unsanctioned primary in 2024.
With New Hampshire unlikely to change its law requiring it to be the state that goes first, Democrats have continued to visit the Granite State, including Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Rep. Ro Khanna of California.
"I have had and will continue to have conversations with RBC [Rules and Bylaws Committee] members about the formal nominating process for our presidential candidates," New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley said in a statement. "We expect these conversations will happen throughout this week and continue on as the RBC decides on a process that gives each state an equal playing field."
Democrats in Nevada continue to argue their state should go first, noting its racially and ethnically diverse electorate with a heavy population of unionized workers, Politico reported.
"Making Nevada first is a strategic decision for national Democrats, given the party's need to invest in winning back working-class and Latino voters. We are also the only state that fits the DNC's criteria of diverse, small, accessible and a battleground state," Molly Forgey, an adviser to the Nevada Democratic Party, told Politico. "We're going to ramp up our conversations with members about Nevada next week."
Democrats in South Carolina say it should maintain its first-in-the-nation primary as a small state with a large percentage of Black voters, Politico reported.
"We are proceeding as first in the nation," Christale Spain, chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party, told Politico. "We'll start meeting and discussing the calendar, but candidates are used to coming here" as the first-in-the-South state for the past two decades, "[and] we will be vigorous in our approach to maintaining [it]."
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.