Democrats Choose South Carolina To Pick Nominee For States They Might Win

Democrats voted Friday to place South Carolina first on the party’s proposed 2028 presidential primary calendar, giving initial control of the nomination to a state the party has not carried in a presidential election since 1976. Under the plan, South Carolina would vote Jan. 22, ahead of Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Michigan and Virginia, allowing Democrats to select a candidate in conditions carefully insulated from Electoral College success. The full Democratic National Committee is expected to consider the calendar in August, after members complete a customary review of every possible route to 270 electoral votes and remove those that appear too direct.

“The strongest presidential nominee is always the one chosen first by voters in a state we have no realistic expectation of winning,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said. “That keeps the process focused on our core mission of making battleground voters learn about decisions that were already made somewhere else.” Party officials described the calendar as a breakthrough in electoral science: First ask South Carolina Democrats whom they prefer, then spend nine months determining whether voters in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona know that person exists. Iowa was omitted entirely after exhausting its federally unregulated supply of political relevance during the Carter administration.

Representative Jim Clyburn’s state received 26 of the committee’s 49 votes, defeating Nevada after an extended debate over which dependable Democratic constituency should receive four days of intense courtship followed by four years of automated fundraising texts. Former DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said South Carolina’s place recognizes the importance of Black voters, who will be thanked with three celebrity bus tours, 11 speeches about being the backbone of the party and a solemn promise that senior officials will return as soon as polling becomes catastrophic. South Carolina will therefore choose the Democratic nominee precisely because it cannot help elect one.

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