Democrats set to move 2028 primary kickoff from Iowa and New Hampshire

The Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee was expected Friday in Washington to take a key vote on which states would open the 2028 presidential nominating calendar, a decision likely to shift the party’s first-in-the-nation contests away from Iowa and New Hampshire. South Carolina and Nevada emerged as the leading contenders for the first two spots, while Iowa was expected to be left off the top of the schedule and New Hampshire was also likely to lose its traditional lead position.

The stakes go beyond ceremony. The first contests give voters the earliest chance to shape the presidential race, and they can help candidates build momentum, attract donors and dominate media coverage before the field narrows. By elevating South Carolina and Nevada, Democrats were moving toward an early calendar that better reflects the party’s coalition and its racial diversity, rather than the old order that gave Iowa and New Hampshire a privileged role for decades.

Ken Martin, the DNC chair, signaled that overhaul last August when he told the Rules and Bylaws Committee, “The presidential calendar process starts today.” In January, the committee advanced 12 states to the next phase of the 2028 calendar-selection process, narrowing the field before the final recommendation. South Carolina and Nevada both made their cases to go first, underscoring how aggressively states have competed for the opening advantage that comes with controlling the first stretch of the nomination fight.

The proposed lineup would extend a change Democrats already made for 2024, when South Carolina was moved to the front of the nominating calendar. That decision broke with the Iowa-New Hampshire sequence that had long defined the party’s presidential contests and created a new model for how Democrats want to distribute early influence. If the committee locks in the 2028 order, South Carolina and Nevada would gain the earliest spotlight, Iowa would lose its opening slot, and New Hampshire would no longer be assured of its traditional first-in-the-nation status.