The Democratic National Committee's winter meeting in Charleston, South Carolina, was dominated by chatter about the presidential primary calendar in 2024, and the possibility that President Joe Biden might not run for re-election.
"Yes, Biden has made it clear that he is running again, but nobody really knows that for sure," one state party chair told Insider of the first-term president who will be 83 years old on Inauguration Day in 2025. The person said that the DNC is going to prepare for all scenarios.
When Obama was running for re-election, there was no drama at the DNC because it was unimportant.
At the Charleston Marriott this weekend, members of the DNC discussed a future potential dispute over how to order the presidential nomination calendar and handle a number of issues that come with shaking up the recent 2020 lineup of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina.
The Democratic official said that the conversations had started in earnest.
Nevada made a move.
Since 1972, the nation's first Democratic nominating contest has been held in Iowa. Since 1976, New Hampshire has had its first-in-the-nation primary.
Democrats have debated the efficacy of predominantly white, older states such as Iowa and New Hampshire leading off the more diverse Democratic party's presidential nominating contest.
The Iowa Caucus app disaster made the criticisms intensify, and Nevada's governor signed a law in June moving his state's primary date ahead of New Hampshire and the Iowa caucus. It's expected to set off a scramble with other states.
Raymond Buckley, chairman, said, "There's been talk about that for 50 years, but nothing makes sense at all, because only the mega-wealthy, mega-star candidates have the ability to seek the nomination."
The DNC rules committee will discuss the primary contest issue on January 29 and the full executive committee will address the matter in March.
