Some members of the Democratic National Committee’s powerful Rules and Statutes Committee (RBC) continued to raise the possibility of reviewing the party’s nomination process on Friday, including questioning the disproportionate role of states like Iowa in determining the candidate.
Discussions took place during the DNC’s annual winter meetings, which are being held in Washington, DC
The Des Moines registry reported Friday on a proposal that would significantly change the way the Democratic Party selects its candidate. It would require states to apply for their nominations in the initial window, and this window could include up to five states. Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina are the four states that have been allowed to compete ahead of other states.
But RBC co-chair Jim Roosevelt said the proposal would not come from the committee at this time.
“Some of you may have read about an alleged draft resolution,” Roosevelt said. “No resolution is coming to this committee. The substance of the resolution comes out of this conversation in this committee. There is no prepared resolution coming out here.”
He acknowledged that the issue had been raised at the January party meeting, but the only written document that emerged was a note, not a resolution.
At that January meeting, members of the Rules and Statutes Committee asked if there should be any changes to the 2024 calendar, including whether Iowa should go first, as is traditionally the case. One member, Mo Elleithee, said during this meeting that three factors should guide decisions about early states: prioritize primaries over caucuses, have more states that “reflect diversity and the rainbow that is the Democratic Party “and communicate Democratic messages to battlefield states. before.
“Three of the current four windows in the initial window meet at least two of these criteria. One does not meet any of them, at least in recent years,” Elleithee told the January meeting.
Elleithee reiterated these points on Friday, saying that following these criteria “gives us a roadmap for thinking about this process moving forward.”
“Now is not a time for us, as a party, to keep up the tradition, now is not a time for us to stay in the status quo,” Elleithee said Friday. “New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina can make a compelling argument about how they fit into this picture. It’s harder for me to see it with Iowa, but Iowa should be able to tell us about this case. I want to hear how it fits. this vision “.
In an interview Wednesday, DNC President Jamie Harrison did not express any preference as to whether Iowa should be replaced as the first state to vote in the presidential primary process.
“We will be deliberative, we will make sure we do whatever is in the best interest of the party in the future. I am waiting for the conversation,” he added. he told CBS News. The former Senate candidate and South Carolina party chairman added that he wants his state to stay where it is on the primary calendar.
Harrison said Friday there would be three more virtual “listening sessions” to hear Democrats across the country think about the primary schedule.
Scott Brennan, a member of RBC Iowa, defended Iowa’s role in the process. He complained about the lack of transparency on the issues of the denounced proposal, such as having five states during the initial window instead of four, and antipathy towards caucuses.
“We’ve talked about transparency and openness, so we live that value,” Brennan said. “I feel like I’m hooked today. It’s not fair to the people of Iowa. It’s not fair to the first four states. If we want to have a process, that’s fine, but then we do it in the sunlight. , not in the dark. “
Lorraine Miller, co-chair of the RBC, tried to downplay the proposal, calling it a “working paper” and a “framework”. “What will really be taken into account is what each of you decides,” he added.
Discussions about the relocation of Iowa Democratic caucuses have taken place since chaotic event of 2020when it took a few days to count results after party officials struggled to report and calculate results, in part due to errors in a new app.
Iowa and its caucuses have faced previous rounds of scrutiny in Democratic circles. Critics have said the caucuses are not inclusive enough because they take place at the same time, and others have raised concerns that Iowa’s lack of diversity does not reflect the current Democratic Party.
Prior to the 2020 nomination process, the DNC adopted rules that encouraged parties to make the transition from caucus to primary to increase participation. The rules also required caucus states to provide absentee voting for people who could not attend in person when caucuses were scheduled.
Iowa Democrats proposed adding virtual caucusesBut the Plan it was discarded by the national party in the summer of 2019. Instead, several satellite caucus were held at earlier times on caucus day to meet a requirement to provide more access.
State laws could complicate attempts to revise the presidential nomination schedule. Iowa law requires the state to hold caucuses, while New Hampshire state law says presidential primaries will be held on the second Tuesday in March or 7 days before any other state holds similar elections. The governor of Nevada last year signed a law that would make Nevada the first primary state.
“The first four states have done the work to represent and test future presidential candidates,” said RBC, Nevada member Artie Blanco. “At the end of the day, Nevada really checks every step of the process. Our voters are diverse in race, but economically diverse. We both have urban and rural communities involved. We’ve really opened up voting to reach everyone.”
Members questioned whether other states want to sign legislation on their placement on the primary calendar. No other states were mentioned, apart from Iowa and New Hampshire.
Republicans, meanwhile, have shown no interest in having a primary calendar fight. The Republican National Committee’s Presidential Nomination Process Committee issued a report earlier this year in which it did not recommend any substantial changes to the party’s primaries schedule. The RNC is expected to adopt these recommendations later this year.
Robert Costa contributed to this report.
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- Iowa Caucus
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