DNC panel picks first 2028 primary state after battle over key voting blocs

South Carolina is on course to remain the lead-off primary in the Democratic Party's 2028 presidential nominating calendar, after landing a key party committee's recommendation.

The Democratic National Committee's (DNC) powerful Rules and Bylaws panel, meeting in the nation's capital on Friday, picked South Carolina over Nevada to hold the party's first presidential nominating contest in 2028, a move that will likely maintain a key role in the primary calendar for Black voters, who are a crucial part of the Democrats' base.

The vote comes after intense lobbying by both states, as well as New Hampshire and Iowa, over the past year to hold the much-coveted lead-off Democratic primary in the race for the White House. And the battle between South Carolina and Nevada was seen as a struggle between rewarding Black voters, who have long been loyal Democratic voters, and outreach to Latino voters, with whom President Donald Trump and Republicans made major gains in the 2024 election, handing Democrats major setbacks.

The panel also voted to allow Nevada, New Hampshire, Michigan, Virginia and New Mexico to hold primaries in the early voting window, before the rest of the states hold nominating contests starting ahead of Super Tuesday.

According to the panel, South Carolina would hold its primary on Jan. 22, 2028, with Nevada going second on Feb. 1, 2028, followed by New Hampshire on Feb. 8, 2028. New Mexico would hold the fourth contest, on Feb. 15, 2028, followed by Michigan on Feb. 22, 2028, and Virginia on Feb. 29, 2028.

Minyon Moore, the panel's co-chair, said that South Carolina "will emerge as the first contest."

"Because of this calendar, our candidates will be tested," said DNC Chair Ken Martin. "Because of this process, millions more Americans will be heard. Because of this committee, our party is and will be stronger. And because of the work that all of us have done together, our eventual nominee will enter the general election, prepared to unite our coalition to compete in every part of the country and to win back the White House."

But longtime New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley, in a statement after the vote on the calendar, argued, "Today's vote shows that many party insiders have learned nothing from 2024. New Hampshire has a proven track record of testing our candidates with a rigorous, fair, and efficient process, yet those qualities did not prevail. 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."

Nevada Democratic Party Chair Daniele Monroe-Moreno emphasized in a statement, "As an early state and the first true test of a candidate's ability to win in a general election, we will play a critical role in the nomination process."

The National Republican Senatorial Committee took aim at the DNC. "Instead of asking themselves why voters are rejecting their socialist agenda, Democrats are denying reality and reshuffling their voting calendar," NRSC National Press Secretary Bernadette Breslin argued in a statement to Fox News Digital.

While Democrats have argued over their 2028 calendar, the rival Republican National Committee announced earlier this year that their nominating schedule, with Iowa and New Hampshire as the lead-off contests, would be unchanged.