Dems Facing Primary Quandary

The 2024 primary calendar is causing a dilemma for Democrats.

The New Hampshire primary, which has followed the opening Iowa caucuses in the lineup, figured to move to the front of the line after Iowa faced demotion after it failed to tally the 2020 vote in a timely manner.

Perhaps Nevada, with its increasing Latino population, would join New Hampshire at the beginning of the primary process.

However, President Joe Biden outlined his demand that "voters of color have a voice in choosing our nominee much earlier in the process and throughout the entire early window" in an early December letter to the Democratic Party's rules and bylaws committee, The New York Times Magazine reported.

Enter South Carolina, which Biden and his team had chosen as the primary that will start the 2024 season.

In his letter, Biden had called Black voters the "backbone" of the party, though he didn't mention South Carolina in his letter, the Times reported.

Members of the party's rules and bylaws committee entertained a resolution in December regarding "a state-run primary in South Carolina on Feb. 3, 2024; New Hampshire and Nevada on Feb. 6; Georgia on Feb. 13. … "

"Everyone was shocked," one said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid antagonizing the White House. "We would have to vote for it, anyway, because the feeling was you're either with the president or against him."

Still, New Hampshire, with its "Live Free or Die" motto, has declared that it will vote first, anyway.

"The reality is that New Hampshire is going to keep the first-in-the-nation primary, and the question only is whether or not the president is going to put his name on the ballot," Ray Buckley, chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party and a longtime Democratic National Committee member, told The New York Times.

"They're trying to come after New Hampshire, but it's not going to be successful. So why go through all that pain?"

The Democratic National Committee, though, is supporting Biden.

"The DNC is recognizing South Carolina as the first primary," DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison told the Times. "Regardless of what New Hampshire does or whatever, our DNC has has authorized that the first primary we are counting toward the allocation of delegates will be South Carolina."

Harrison said New Hampshire will have "plenty of time to come to the table and figure it out, and we're going to give them as many opportunities as possible."

The rules and bylaws committee are giving New Hampshire Democrats until Sept. 1 to negotiate a plan for their primary.