State Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley says he's confident New Hampshire will keep its prized place in the presidential nominating calendar in 2024, regardless of who's elected president in November.
Buckley told reporters Friday that the first four nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada provide sufficiently diversity, both regional and racial, to give all candidates a fair shot.
"While it makes for an interesting conversation every four years, I think the four early states in the order that they are have worked well in, now this is our fourth cycle this way, and will continue to do so,” Buckley said.
Buckley's comments follow former Cabinet Secretary Julian Castro's decision to end his presidential bid earlier this week. Castro has said he believes it's wrong for New Hampshire and Iowa to vote first due, in part, to their realtive lack of racial diversity.
Andrew Yang, the only non-white candidate to qualify for the last Democratic primary debate, has urged party leaders to commission more polls in the hopes of making the next debate stage more diverse.
Buckley says he would welcome more polling but thinks having the DNC pay for it would fuel speculation that it was tainted.
