Biden seeks overhaul of presidential nominating calendar, bumping Iowa - Des Moines Register

— President Joe Biden is recommending a massive overhaul of the presidential nominating calendar, calling for South Carolina to replace Iowa in the leadoff position and elevate Michigan and Georgia into the mix.

Biden has proposed that South Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Georgia and Michigan make up the early voting window.

Scott Brennan, a member of the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee confirmed the proposed changes to the Des Moines Register Thursday night.

The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, which meets through Saturday in Washington, D.C., still needs to approve the proposal before it can head to a vote of the full DNC early next year.

“The DNC did not give New Hampshire the first-in-the-nation primary, and it is not theirs to take away," New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley released the following statement.

South Carolina has been politically important for Biden, giving him a crucial victory in the 2020 Democratic primary after he lost contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada and his candidacy appeared to be hanging on by a thread.

Above all, it was Biden’s strong support among Black voters that carried him in the heavily African-American South Carolina and propelled him to wins in subsequent states.

“For decades, Black voters, in particular, have been the backbone of the Democratic Party but have been pushed to the back of the early primary process,” Biden said in the letter to the DNC rules committee.

Trav Robertson, chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party, told USA TODAY there is no question South Carolina helped propel Biden to the presidency.

He said Democrats in South Carolina are not confined to a single county or geographic region, but instead are spread across the state.

"Sixty to 65% of traditional Democratic voters are spread throughout every single county in the state of South Carolina, which means that you have a mix of urban traditional, Democratic voters and rural, traditional Democratic voters," he said.

But she said that even if the committee approves it, its outcome will be uncertain until it goes before the full Democratic National Committee early next year.

In its bid to join the early voting window, Michigan's delegation pitched the state as “the nation’s most diverse battleground,” home to key demographic groups that Democrats need in order to win the presidency, including labor groups, college students, and white working class and educated suburban voters.

Nikema Williams, Georgia made its pitch to the committee in June, arguing that her state "reflects the diversity that has been championed by the Democratic Party.".

Former state party executive director Scott Hogan argued that choosing Georgia as an early state would demonstrate the party's commitment to the voters who helped deliver the battleground state in the 2020 presidential election and the U.S.

Both Iowa and New Hampshire have state laws on the books requiring Iowa to hold the nation's first presidential caucus and New Hampshire the nation's first primary

New Hampshire has said unequivocally that it plans to uphold that law, and Iowa officials may also choose to defy the DNC

"Our state law requires us to hold a caucus before the last Tuesday in February, and before any other contest," Iowa Democratic Party Chair Ross Wilburn said in a statement

"When we submit our delegate selection plan to the Rules and Bylaws Committee early next year, we will adhere to the State of Iowa’s legal requirements, and address compliance with DNC rules in subsequent meetings and hearings.”