A key committee of the Democratic National Committee has chosen South Carolina to vote first in the 2028 presidential primary cycle, following a similar 2024 snub to New Hampshire and its traditional role as the lead-off state in the presidential nominating calendar.
The vote, while preliminary, was overwhelming. Just four of the committee’s 49 members backed New Hampshire holding the first primary, a strong indication that national Democrats plan to continue their move away from automatically granting New Hampshire a regular spot atop the primary schedule.
“We must act like a party that trusts the people, and that means that we should begin the 2028 presidential primary season in the South,” committee member Donna Brazile said shortly before Friday's vote.
In 2024, the DNC put South Carolina at the top of its primary calendar, with backing from then President Joe Biden, arguing the southern state is more racially diverse and better represented the party’s future.
New Hampshire still held its “first-in-the-nation” presidential primary ahead of South Carolina that year, as state law requires the primary to be held at least seven days ahead of a similar election.
Top New Hampshire Democratic Party officials argued Friday that the Granite State has a track record of testing candidates — and treating them fairly.
“New Hampshire is the place that ensures our candidates have a nominating process that challenges candidates to answer tough questions face to face,” state Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley said.
After the vote, Buckley criticized the committee, which is made up of top Democrats from across the country.
“Today’s vote shows that many party insiders have learned nothing from 2024,” Buckley said in a statement on social media. “This committee’s vote does not change the realities governing New Hampshire’s primary, which are beyond the control of both this committee and our state party.”
Buckley said that Democrats in New Hampshire would be focusing on the 2026 midterm elections and addressing the “significant challenges facing America’s overwhelmed working class.”
New Hampshire Republicans piled on after Friday's DNC vote, saying it showed local Democrats had failed at protecting the state’s primary tradition.
"The DNC continues to prove it has no respect for New Hampshire voters or our First-in-the-Nation primary,” said NHGOP Chairman Scott Maltzie. "The good news for Granite Staters is that New Hampshire law, not the DNC, determines when our presidential primary is held.”
“For the second time this decade, the Democratic National Committee has turned their back on Granite Staters,” Rep. Ross Berry, chair of the House Election Law Committee, said in a statement.
Since 1976, New Hampshire law has required the state to hold its presidential primary at least seven days before any “similar election” held by another state. While other states have regularly complained that New Hampshire enjoyed an unfair privilege in kicking off the primary calendar, local politicians said the state’s voters had earned the right by offering a fair playing field for all candidates.
In recent years, national Democrats have been increasingly skeptical of New Hampshire’s leadoff role, complaining that this mostly white state of 1.4 million people was not representative of the country at large.
New Hampshire traces its primary back to 1913, when it switched from a caucus system to a primary. State leaders maintain that what made the state a valuable primary nominating state a century ago remains the same: direct citizen involvement, with everyday voters being able to question the candidates face to face. And state election officials say the candidates have benefited as a result.
“The bottom line is New Hampshire has a state law, at this point a 106-year-old tradition of holding the first primary. So that will continue,” said New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan. “We are going to defend our law and the tradition.”
New Hampshire goes first for good reasons, Scanlan said in an interview Friday. He said the state is a good place for voters to vet candidates, and that it’s easy for a candidate to make the ballot and campaign without a lot of money or name recognition.
Scanlan, the state’s chief election officer, notes that the state pays for and runs the presidential primary, along with other state elections — not political parties.
To that end, he says New Hampshire is not going to bifurcate its presidential primary elections, but will continue to hold its Republican and Democratic presidential primaries on the same date.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte, a Republican, said the DNC was wrong to disregard New Hampshire’s traditional spot in the nominating calendar.
“I fully support Secretary Scanlan upholding state law that puts our primary first,” she said in a statement. “We will not back down from defending New Hampshire’s place in history, and I look forward to hosting the first primaries for both parties in 2028.”
