Iowa Republican Party chairman Jeff Kaufmann says he and the GOP leaders of New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada are “wholeheartedly united” behind maintaining the same sequence for presidential caucuses and primaries in 2024 that was used in 2020.
“I am unwavering,” Kaufmann told Radio Iowa. “I am granite…Iowa is going to be first-in-the-nation and we are going to hold a Caucus.”
The Democratically-led Nevada legislature passed a bill on Monday that seeks to change that state’s caucus to a primary and schedule it as the opening event in the presidential nominating process.
“Iowa has proven time and time again that this is a good place not to pick the president, but to start the process,” Kaufmann said.
Earlier today, Kaufmann spoke with the Nevada Republican Party’s leader, who has publicly opposed a first-in-the-nation Nevada Primary. Michael McDonald has warned as the state could lose its delegates to the national conventions held by Republicans and Democrats.
“He sees everything that the Democrats in Nevada have done as pure politics,” Kaufmann said. “I mean this is a Harry Reid power play.”
Reid is the former Majority Leader in the U.S. Senate. Reid and other Nevada Democrats argue the state has a diverse population that mirrors the country’s demographics. The Iowa GOP’s chairman said the history of the caucuses shows candidates from diverse backgrounds can compete and win in Iowa like Barack Obama did in 2008 and Ted Cruz did in 2016.
“I believe wholeheartedly and sincerely that Iowa Democrats, like Iowa Republicans, are practiced, they’re seasoned,” Kaufmann said, “and I think both parties can provide candidates that absolute best way to introduce themselves to the rest of the country.”
The Republican and Democratic National Committees approve the dates for state primaries and caucuses that help determine each party’s presidential nominee.