Members of the Democratic Party, one of the two major political parties in the United States along with the Republican Party, voted to remake the party's presidential nominating calendar, making South Carolina the first state to hold its contest in 2024 and replacing Iowa amid calls for greater racial, geographic and economic diversity in the process.
The Washington Post said that US President Joe Biden asked Democratic National Committee (DNC) leaders to move up South Carolina, which sealed his comeback victory in the 2020 Democratic primary, to the first slot. Under the new plan, New Hampshire and Nevada would hold their primaries a week later, followed by primaries in Georgia and Michigan.
The vote represents the last formal step in DNC efforts to fundamentally overhaul the nominating calendar, as committee members officially approved the new order set by Biden. However, the push to reorder the states still faces some hurdles.
Two states granted entry into the early window have yet to change the dates of the primaries and have until June to do so.
DNC officials have already passed rules that dictate states violating the calendar order will be punished, as will candidates who campaign in states that hold primaries outside their assigned days.
