President Joe Biden wants to reshape how the Democratic Party does its presidential nominating contest, Reuters reported.
His plans to reshape it will face its final test this week in a Democratic National Committee vote.
Officials from two key states staunchly oppose the effort.
Biden wants the DNC to oust Iowa as the first in the nation in the party’s nominating calendar. It has held this position for decades, since 1972.
Biden has suggested that Iowa should be replaced with South Carolina, a state with significantly more Black voters.
It is also a state that saved his 2020 presidential campaign.
South Carolina would be followed by New Hampshire and Nevada one week later, and then by primaries in Georgia and Michigan.
The planned promotion of South Carolina and Georgia reflects a demographic balancing – decades in the making for the Democratic Party at the expense of two largely white states.
Those two largely white states were also states that rejected Biden in 2020. The revamp also underscores the growing power of the racially diverse coalition that helped bring Biden to power.
The DNC convention comes after bitter divisions dominated a national Republican gathering.
The Democrats are eager to showcase how much they agree on.
There will be no party chair fight since Jaime Harrison isn’t up for reelection until 2025. There is no candidate jostling for a White House bid since President Joe Biden is expected to seek a second term. And there is no national reckoning after a surprisingly strong midterm showing.
The DNC on Saturday is expected to approve the new lineup for the party’s presidential primaries, deferring to Biden, who has championed South Carolina’s primary opening voting on Feb. 3. New Hampshire and Nevada would jointly follow three days later, on Feb. 6, with Georgia coming next on Feb. 13 and Michigan two weeks after that.
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