Democrats are already looking to revamp their primary schedule for 2028 following their electoral loss this year.
Just days after Kamala Harris lost her bid for the White House and Democrats lost their majority in the Senate, Democratic National Committee members are gearing up to draft a new order of states for the 2028 presidential primary, NBC News reports.
“The 2024 calendar will absolutely not be the calendar for 2028,” Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb told the outlet.
DNC members expect the next presidential primary process to be crowded following Harris’s defeat.
“The process has to be rigorous, efficient and fair, and we have to make sure that it’s open and transparent,” an unnamed state Democratic Party chair told the outlet.
Several Democrats are already looking ahead to the 2028 primary as the party tries to rebuild after a devastating loss to President-elect Donald Trump.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz are all names that are considered to be in the mix.
Others include Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. Some of the potential candidates are already making moves to be at the front of the line when primary season kicks off.
The 2024 primary order – which began with South Carolina before going to Nevada, Georgia and Michigan – was the result of months of debate and contention. This year marked the first time in decades that the Democratic primary process didn’t begin with Iowa, typically the first in the nation.
Democratic leadership pushed for South Carolina to go first because they wanted states with diverse populations – rather than largely white states, like Iowa – to have more of a say early on in the process, according to NBC news.
While states are in control of when they schedule their primaries, there are penalties for defying the order set by the DNC. These penalties could include refusing to seat delegates at the national convention from any state that held its votes out of order, according to the Associated Press.
