Biden tells Democrats to revise primary calendar to boost Black voters’ voices

Democrats are poised to shake up the way in which they nominate presidential candidates, after Joe Biden said the primary process should better represent the party’s non-white voters.

Biden has reportedly told Democrats that Iowa, the state that has led off the Democratic voting calendar since 1976, should be moved down the calendar, with South Carolina instead going first.

The move would see New Hampshire, which has technically held the nation’s first primary since 1920 (Iowa uses a slightly different system of caucuses, or in-person voting), shunted down the calendar.

Both Iowa and New Hampshire are predominantly white states. Clamor has been growing inside and outside the Democratic party for a different state, with a population more representative of the US as a whole, to be given the first go.

Associated Press reported that Biden had written to the Democratic National Committee regarding the proposal. The DNC’s rules committee is meeting on Friday to vote on the primary calendar.

“For decades, Black voters in particular have been the backbone of the Democratic party but have been pushed to the back of the early primary process,” Biden wrote.

“We rely on these voters in elections but have not recognized their importance in our nominating calendar. It is time to stop taking these voters for granted, and time to give them a louder and earlier voice in the process.”

In the letter Biden did not mention specific states he would like to see go first, but has told Democrats he wants South Carolina moved to the first position, Associated Press reported, citing anonymous sources. The Washington Post first reported the proposed shake-up of the primary process.

Associated Press reported that the new schedule would see South Carolina hold the first primary, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada on the same day a week later.

Georgia and Michigan, which were crucial to Biden’s 2020 election win, would follow, AP reported.

Iowa came under fire after a series of technical glitches led to a three-day wait before the Democratic party declared Pete Buttigieg the winner. The results were so marred that the Associated Press ultimately did not declare any victor.

Biden also criticized the caucus system, which is used in Iowa and three other states to nominate a presidential candidate. In a caucus voters have to physically travel to a location and stand in a section of the room designated for their chosen candidate, before potentially then changing their minds and going to a different part of the room to select a different candidate.

Biden said caucuses were “restrictive and anti-worker” because they require voters “to spend significant amounts of time” on one night gathering to choose candidates in person, “disadvantaging hourly workers and anyone who does not have the flexibility to go to a set location at a set time”.

Biden’s direction comes as the DNC rules committee gathers in Washington on Friday to vote on shaking up the presidential primary calendar starting in 2024. If Biden runs for a second term, as he has suggested he will, the changes will be largely meaningless until the 2028 Democratic primaries as he would probably win the nomination easily in 2024.

The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, has already decided to keep Iowa’s caucus as the first contest in its 2024 presidential calendar, ensuring that GOP White House hopefuls – which include Trump – will continue campaigning there frequently.