Democratic Party leaders from five Southern states are pressing the Democratic National Committee to keep South Carolina at the front of the 2028 presidential primary calendar, arguing the state's diverse electorate serves as a crucial testing ground for candidates.
In a letter sent Thursday to DNC Chair Ken Martin, the state party chairs from Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and West Virginia called on the party to reaffirm South Carolina's first-in-the-nation status. The DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee is currently meeting to determine the voting order for the next cycle.
The leaders emphasized that South Carolina's Democratic primary base is majority-minority and includes working families, veterans, farmers, educators, labor unions, and faith communities. “These are the voters who should be setting the standard by which Democratic presidential candidates are measured,” they wrote.
Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Institute, echoed the request in a separate letter to Martin. Thompson argued that removing South Carolina from its early slot would send a damaging signal to Black voters and others who have historically been marginalized in the primary process. “To remove or diminish South Carolina’s standing in the primary calendar would send precisely the wrong message to Black voters and to every voter who has been told their voice does not matter until the outcome is already decided,” Thompson wrote.
The push comes amid a broader debate over the primary calendar and follows a recent Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which weakened a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. The Southern chairs said this ruling makes “the need for Southern leadership … even more urgent.” They argued that keeping South Carolina first forces candidates to engage with communities the court decision has “attempted to silence.”
South Carolina has held one of the earliest Democratic primaries in recent cycles, and its results have often been a bellwether for candidates seeking to build momentum. The state's diverse electorate is seen as a more accurate reflection of the national Democratic coalition than the predominantly white electorates in early states like Iowa and New Hampshire.
The DNC has not yet responded to the letters, but the Rules and Bylaws Committee is expected to make a final decision on the 2028 calendar in the coming weeks. The outcome will shape how candidates allocate resources and build their campaigns in the run-up to the next presidential election. Meanwhile, polls show former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg leading early 2028 Democratic primary surveys, as the party looks ahead to the post-2024 landscape.
The Southern chairs’ appeal also comes as legal battles over voting rights continue. A federal judge recently upheld Trump-era mail-in ballot restrictions, adding to Democratic concerns about voter access. The party chairs framed their request as a defense of multiracial democracy, writing that “when South Carolina goes first, we send a message to the nation that the Democratic Party will not retreat from its commitment to multiracial democracy, even as the courts and the Republican Party work in concert to undermine it.”
The Hill has reached out to the DNC for comment.
