As the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee met Friday in Washington to approve the recommendation, New Hampshire’s two Democratic senators both vowed to defy Biden’s wishes by supporting Republican Gov. Chris Sununu’s plan to keep the nation’s first primary there.
“New Hampshire does have a statute. We do have a law. And we will not be breaking our law,” said Joanne Dowdell, New Hampshire’s representative on the committee. “And I feel that any lawyer in the room or around the table would feel that it is not in the best interest of this body to even suggest we do that.”
Nevada state Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and Nevada state Assembly Speaker-elect Steve Yeager, both Democrats, released a joint statement refusing to move their primary date from Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024, to meet the Biden plan.
“We strongly disagree with President Biden’s proposed new order of early presidential nominating states,” they said in a joint statement. “We are the right long-term choice to be first in the nation.”
At the same time, Nevada representatives in Washington told Democrats that they would welcome South Carolina’s primary going first, if it took place on the Saturday before Nevada’s scheduled date.
Carol Fowler, South Carolina’s representative on the committee, did not explicitly endorse Nevada’s proposal but said South Carolina “does not mind voting on a Saturday.”
By breaking with decades of tradition, Biden’s move is meant to signal his party’s commitment to elevating more diversity — demographic, geographic and economic — in the early nominating process. Iowa, the traditional kickoff state that has held its caucuses the week before New Hampshire’s primary, is largely White. The state also experienced embarrassing problems tabulating results in 2020.
Iowa’s representative on the committee, Scott Brennan, said his state would continue to fight for the state’s early role in the process, without saying whether Iowa Democrats would go rogue with New Hampshire to hold an unsanctioned contest.
“I cannot support the proposal before us,” Brennan said. “Small rural states like Iowa must have a voice.”
States that disobey the ultimate decision by the DNC probably will face serious sanctions from the party, including the unseating of delegates at the nominating convention, according to Democratic officials, following rules the DNC passed this year. Candidates who campaign for primaries or caucuses that are not sanctioned also could be punished by the national party, with any delegates they win in those states being stripped of voting power and the possible denial of access to party-sanctioned debate stages.
As the meeting began Friday morning, some members of the Rules and Bylaws Committee voiced support for the Biden plan. Stuart Appelbaum of New York called the Biden rubric “an elegant plan.”
“This is what our party looks like. This is what America looks like,” he said.
“I support what the president of the United States has asked us to do,” said another rules committee member, Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers.
“I’m so proud that we are going to hear from more voices,” said Donna Brazile, another member of the committee, about Biden’s desire to make the early nominating process more diverse. “I’m not going to abandon a president who is winning for the American people.”
Biden, who has said he intends to run for reelection and does not yet face a primary challenger, has said he would like the order of early states to be reconsidered again for the 2028 election, when a more competitive nominating battle is likely.
Republicans, meanwhile, plan to stick to the traditional early calendar, with Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina leading off the voting to nominate a GOP candidate. Republicans are expected to seek a split primary date in Michigan, to abide by GOP rules. Georgia Republicans have not yet indicated whether they will support moving up the Democratic primary in that state.
South Carolina’s Democratic Party leaders also did not say Friday whether they would abide by Nevada’s request that their primary be held on a Saturday, not the Tuesday before Nevada, as Biden has requested.
“I think we feel comfortable with the president’s direction,” South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Trav Robertson said.
Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), a close Biden ally, celebrated the president’s move, although he said he did not ask Biden to push South Carolina to the front.
“I was perfectly pleased with South Carolina being last in the early window, but I did ask him not to put a big state like Michigan in front of South Carolina,” he said.
But Biden called Clyburn on Thursday to share that he was recommending that South Carolina go first, a move Clyburn said “maximizes the opportunity for our candidates to connect with the voting public.”
“I would say to all my friends on the rules committee, let’s work on what’s most successful for our candidates, not what satisfies people’s ego,” he said.