DNC affirms Nevada’s 2nd spot on revised presidential primary calendar

The Democratic National Committee Saturday formally approved its 2024 presidential primary calendar that puts South Carolina first, and Nevada second.

The DNC calendar has Nevada sharing a Feb. 6, 2024 primary date – three days after South Carolina – with New Hampshire. But New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu Saturday indicated that his state will continue to adhere to a New Hampshire law requiring New Hampshire’s primary to be first in the nation.

“New Hampshire will be going first in 2024,” Sununu tweeted after the DNC approved the calendar.

Long-time Nevada Democratic operative Rebecca Lambe, who has been spearheading Nevada’s move up the calendar with the DNC, contended that if New Hampshire defies the DNC calendar and holds its primary first, it would only further diminish the New Hampshire’s importance to the process.

New Hampshire “will clearly jump both Nevada and South Carolina’s position,” Lambe wrote in a Medium post following the DNC’s action Saturday. “We expect the DNC to impose and enforce severe penalties on states and candidates who do not honor the rules as adopted. New Hampshire’s non-adherence to the updated calendar will make them even more irrelevant in this process.”

The DNC also removed the Iowa caucuses from the early calendar.

Following South Carolina on Feb. 3 and Nevada (but maybe not New Hampshire) Feb. 6, comes Georgia on Feb. 13 and Michigan on Feb. 27, under the newly approved Democratic calendar.

The schedule was revamped at the urging of President Joe Biden, who has yet to announce his candidacy for reelection but is widely expected to run, a decision that could effectively render the 2024 Democratic primary calendar moot.

In an apparent nod to that eventuality, Lambe wrote that Nevada’s importance to the process would be elevated “going forward.”

Nevada is “the only Western state, the most diverse early state, and the only early state with major Latino and AAPI populations. Nevada will be the state that fully demonstrates which candidates can go the distance to the nomination and the White House,” Lambe wrote.

“Our elevated role in this new calendar will be hugely consequential in 2024,” she wrote, adding “and beyond.”

The Republican National Committee has indicated it has no intention of deviating from the traditional primary order of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.