By BallotWire
07/22/2026
The Wire: The Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee is set to vote Friday on which states open the 2028 presidential nominating calendar, with Nevada and South Carolina locked in a coin-flip fight for the first slot.
Why it counts: Going first shapes who runs, who survives, and which voters get courted, and this cycle the stakes climb higher. The overhaul cements a break from decades of tradition, keeping Iowa off the top and elevating states that better mirror the party's Black and Latino base ahead of what is expected to be a wide-open 2028 primary.
The margin: Twelve states applied for the early window: Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The 49-member panel will pick up to five.
The fine print: Interviews with nearly a dozen committee members point to South Carolina, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Michigan making the early window, with the order unsettled and New Mexico and Virginia competing for a possible fifth slot. New Hampshire is described as a very distant third for the top spot.
On the record: South Carolina party chair Christale Spain was blunt this week: "we're first, and we maintain that." Nevada Rep. Steven Horsford countered that his state "is the only state to meet all the criteria."
The counter: Each side has built a distinct case. South Carolina's allies argue the party owes a debt to Black voters, with former DNC chair Jaime Harrison writing in a nine-page letter that history will judge whether the party kept faith with voters who kept faith with it. Rep. Jim Clyburn sent his own letter urging members not to pass over the state, and backers cite its cheap media market, compactness, and majority-Black primary electorate. Nevada's supporters point to a coalition spanning Latino, Black, AAPI, and Native voters, deep union infrastructure, and genuine battleground status.
The backdrop: South Carolina has been a reliable bellwether, with its primary winner taking the nomination in nearly every contested cycle since 1992, including Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden, whose 2020 win there revived his campaign. The lone miss came in 2004, when John Edwards won the state and John Kerry took the nomination. Democrats rebuilt the process after the 2020 Iowa caucus meltdown, and the 2024 calendar ran South Carolina, Nevada, New Hampshire, Georgia, and Michigan. South Carolina's pitch has been sharpened further by this spring's Supreme Court ruling gutting the Voting Rights Act.
Looking ahead: Friday's vote closes a two-day committee meeting in Washington, but settles nothing on its own. The recommendation goes to the full DNC at its summer meeting in Austin next month, and the calendar is not final until that body signs off.