A top Democrat in the legislature is calling on his party to hold its Iowa Caucuses in 2028 before any other state holds a presidential primary.
House Minority Leader Brian Meyer of Des Moines says it was a mistake for Iowa Democrats to give in to national party leaders who put South Carolina’s Democratic Primary first in 2024.
“We need to bring back the Caucuses and I have long since advocated for us being put into the number one spot,” Meyer says. “…Iowa is the best place to sort out the wheat from the chaff and get us back to where we need to be as a party on the national level. We on the national level are missing the Midwest common sense that Iowa has brought to those caucuses.”
President Biden, who finished fourth in the 2020 Iowa Caucuses, criticized the way the caucuses are conducted and called for South Carolina to go first instead. The Iowa Caucuses had been the lead-off event for Democrats in a dozen presidential elections. “It was a great for us to showcase the Midwest, a great way for us to showcase Iowa and we need to bring them back,” Meyer says.
Meyer notes New Hampshire, which started holding a presidential primary in 1920, ignored the national party’s edict for 2024 and still held its presidential primary first. “New Hampshire and Iowa were tossed last time. New Hampshire moved forward. They did what they needed to do and what they wanted to do,” Meyer says. “…At the end of the day, we need to do what we need to do.”
According to Meyer, Iowa Democrats can and should get rid of the complicated math that’s been used in the Caucuses to determine a winner and just do what Iowa Republicans do — declare the person who gets the most votes the winner. The Iowa Republican Party’s Caucuses were still first-in-the-nation in 2024 and Iowa GOP leaders are pushing to maintain that position in 2028.
“We are allowing the Republicans have that spotlight every four years when we ought to be sharing in it,” Meyer says, “and, at the end of the day, it helps Iowa Democrats.”
Meyer says the Caucuses help Democrats register new voters and start precinct level organizing for the General Election. Meyer made his comments during taping of the “Iowa Press” program that airs tonight on Iowa PBS.
Some Iowa Democrats say the Caucuses have been a distraction from local races and it’s time to give up the fight to have the Democratic Party’s Caucuses go first in 2028.