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Democrats are considering a plan that could bump the Iowa Caucuses out of the first-in-the-nation position — and the party will be hosting three forums to give Democrats across the country a chance to weigh in on how the party picks its presidential nominees.
Later this summer, the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee is to recommend the sequence of voting events in 2024. Former Iowa Democratic Party chairman Scott Brennan is a member of the committee, which met this past weekend.
“I have been assured that it’s going to be a fair and open process,” Brennan said, “and I take everyone at their word that is going to be the case.”
National party leaders have been encouraging states to hold primaries rather than caucuses. According to the National Conference of Sate Legislatures, Democratic Parties in just Iowa, Wyoming and Nevada held Caucuses in 2020 and officials in Nevada already are planning to hold a presidential primary in 2024.
“Caucuses have their challenges, but I think we want to work with the Rules and Bylaws Committee to come up with a proposal that makes the Caucuses even more open and accessible.”
The Des Moines Register was first to report national party leaders have developed a memo that outlines some new rules for which states have early voting contests in the 2024 presidential election, but the committee took no action on the matter this weekend. The chairman of the Iowa Republican Party said national party leaders are poised to confirm that the Iowa Republican Party’s Caucuses are to be first in 2024 and send the message that Middle America matters to the GOP.
(Reporting by Iowa Public Radio’s Clay Masters; additional reporting by Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson)
