Michigan House Democrats voted on Tuesday to move the state’s presidential primary to the last week in February, as it joins several states leading the Democratic Party‘s presidential primary for the 2024 election.
The state Senate approved the decision last Thursday, cementing Michigan as the fifth state to hold its presidential primary in early 2024. Michigan Democratic leaders see this move as an opportunity to push Michigan’s voice in national politics.
GOP SENATORS DEFEND DESANTIS FROM TRUMP ATTACKS AHEAD OF POSSIBLE 2024 BID
“Our population is a more reflective mix of suburban, urban and rural constituents than just about any other state that has had this early vote,” state Sen. Jeremy Moss (D), chair of the Senate’s election committee, told the Associated Press. “We’re serious about putting Michigan at the forefront of presidential politics because then that puts us at the forefront of setting a national agenda.”
In December 2022, the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws panel voted to approve a plan to switch up the nominating calendar, replacing Iowa as the first-in-the-nation with South Carolina, followed by Nevada, New Hampshire, Georgia, and then Michigan.
Michigan House Republicans argued on Tuesday that the move could cost the state party nearly all of its 2024 delegates, as Michigan is not on the Republican National Committee’s early primary calendar. The GOP are sticking to the traditional calendar, which places Iowa first, followed by New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada.
“There’s a 90% loss of your delegates if your primary is held before March 1. So if this becomes law, no Republican candidate for president is going to come to Michigan to campaign,” state Rep. Andrew Beeler (R) said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Democratic National Committee as a whole has yet to vote on the 2024 presidential primary calendar, with President Joe Biden not yet announcing if he is running for reelection.
Biden prodded the DNC to include Michigan in the early primary lineup, helping to drive the Democratic Party’s wish to push Iowa out due to a lack of success in the 2020 caucuses.
