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The Democratic National Committee has removed New York and Nebraska from consideration for a coveted early primary spot in the 2024 presidential nomination process, leaving 16 states and one territory in the running.
News of the decision came in a letter to members from co-chairs of the party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, which also revealed that Democrats Abroad, an official organization for American expatriates, had also been rejected. The party is working to update the early stages of its primary, which has taken place in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina in recent decades.
The states awarded with first-in-the-nation primary dates are given far more sway over the nominating process compared to states that vote later on. Candidates also provide significantly more attention to the early states, which tend to narrow the presidential field considerably.
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All three applicants, the letter stated, had “issues that were both unavoidable and in enough conflict with the Committee’s goals that it was prudent to make this decision now.”
The co-chairs wrote that New York was cut because of the state’s “size, the cost of campaigning there, its profile as a ‘solid blue state,’ and concerns that it would be impossible to counterbalance the disproportionate number of urban voters it would introduce into the pre-window period.”
“While there are other large states to which these concerns apply, none of the others introduce all of these issues together,” the letter added.
Regarding Nebraska, the co-chairs wrote that the state’s proposal to switch to a party-run primary separate from the state-run contest, which would need to go through a GOP-held legislature, would “create confusion by rendering the state-run process meaningless despite Democrats being on the ballot.”
As for Democrats Abroad, the letter said the logistics involved in campaigning overseas were too complicated.
The remaining 17 candidates will present their pitches later this month to the committee, which will recommend a new selection of states for the early nominating window by August. The DNC will then hold a broader vote on the new state primary order.
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The 16 states and one territory still in contention include: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington.
The decision to change their system and require that all states hold primaries instead of caucuses is a result of the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucus, which dissolved into turmoil when a glitchy new app developed to help count the vote failed to function. The chaos led to days of uncertainty about the outcome of the contest, in which both Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and then-South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg declared victory and called for the re-canvassing of votes.
Many in the party have separately argued for years that Iowa and New Hampshire, which are both overwhelmingly white and rural, do not accurately represent the diversity of the party.
