2020 could wind up being the last time Iowa Democrats host the first event in their party’s presidential nominating process.
The Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee has voted to have state parties apply to be among the first five contests in the 2024 presidential election. Applications for “early state” status are due June 3. Iowa Democratic Party chairman Ross Wilburn says Iowa Democrats look forward to “enthusiastically” making the case Iowa should host an early voting contest.
National party leaders have been encouraging states to hold primaries rather than caucuses. Having a set of early primaries in states that will be battleground or toss-up states in the General Election is a priority for key Democratic Party leaders. They say the diversity of a state’s population should also be a factor.
The Iowa Democratic Party’s chairman says there will be discussions about making the Iowa Caucuses more “accessible…and straightforward.” A party panel assembled in 2016 to explore changes in how Iowa Democrats caucus ultimately kept the complicated system of calculating a winner in place.
Iowa Republicans essentially hold a Straw Poll on Caucus Night and Iowa GOP chairman Jeff Kaufmann says Republican leaders at the national level are poised to affirm the Iowa Republican Party’s Caucuses as first-in-the-nation in 2024.