Why Biden's Democrats want South Carolina to go first in 2024
by W. James Antle III, Politics Editor |
December 03, 2022 06:48 AM
The Democratic National Committee’s rule-making arm has selected South Carolina to lead off its 2024 presidential primaries at President Joe Biden’s urging, but he probably would have preferred they made the change four years earlier.
Biden stumbled out of the gate early in 2020, finishing fourth in Iowa, fifth in New Hampshire, and a very distant second in Nevada, trailing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) by over 16 points.
Then he won the South Carolina primary by a landslide, regained his front-runner status, and never looked back.
That’s not how the change is being sold, of course. South Carolina is a contest where black voters have a much bigger impact than in Iowa.
“Just like my administration, the Democratic Party has worked hard to reflect the diversity of America — but our nominating process does not," Biden wrote in a letter to Democrats ahead of the vote. "For fifty years, the first month of our presidential nominating process has been a treasured part of our democratic process, but it is time to update the process for the 21st century. I am committed to working with the DNC to get this done."
South Carolina’s Democratic primary electorate is about 60% black. Exit polls found black voters accounted for 56% of the 2020 primary turnout and that Biden won 61% of their votes. With just under half the total vote in the seven-way race, he ran nearly 30 points ahead of runner-up Sanders.
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