DNC members discuss election calendar issues

Published: Jan. 26, 2023 at 11:06 PM CST
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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - The Iowa Caucuses won’t look the same in 2024; democrats have proposed a new presidential nomination calendar that doesn’t include Caucuses as an early test of candidates.

“The Democratic National Committee put together a calendar that cannot work, and we’re seeing that come to fruition,” said Scott Brennan, an Iowa Democratic National Committee member.

Democrats are considering an election calendar that kicks-off with South Carolina to include more diversity, but Brennan said 2024 may not be very important to the party because there will be little opposition if President Joe Biden runs for re-election. The race after that is a different story.

“The barn doors are wide-open for 2028,” he said. “The committee will go back and come up with a new process and new states, no matter what happens this cycle,” he said.

However, Brennon hasn’t given up hope for 2024. New Hampshire and Georgia lawmakers haven’t agreed to move up the date for their primaries. The DNC now gave them until 2024. Iowa Democrats could rejoin state Republicans to keep the caucuses in the spotlight.

“We’re watching, and we still talk with our colleagues on the Republican side,” said Brennan.

Since the Caucuses are run by the political parties, Democrats could ignore the National Party and go first anyway, but as the 2088 race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton showed, states that ignore the election calendar can face consequences.

“Michigan and Florida went rogue, and they were both punished for it,” he said. “By the time they came back to the convention, they got all their delegates back.”