Iowa Dethroned, Michigan Currently First Midwestern State to Vote in 2024 Democratic Primaries

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The Iowa caucuses have traditionally been the first contest on the presidential primary calendar, but the state will not host the first contest in the upcoming election, as South Carolina will now slide into that first spot.

President Joe Biden had been pushing for South Carolina to serve as the site of the first primary of the election season, and he got his wish on Saturday as the Democratic National Committee set the sites of several key races.

The South Carolina primary will take place on Feb. 3. New Hampshire and Nevada will hold their contests on Feb. 6, while Georgia will move up in the order and vote on Feb. 13.

Iowa has not yet been slotted back into the primary calendar.

The first Midwestern state currently scheduled to hold a primary in 2024 will be Michigan, which was slotted to Feb. 27 by the DNC.

Super Tuesday will take place on March 5, the committee announced. Minnesota was the lone Midwestern state to vote on that date in 2020.

The calendar is still being sorted out, but questions still remain, with New Hampshire Democrats expressing concerns about South Carolina’s primary being moved ahead of the Granite State vote. Under New Hampshire law, the state must hold the first primary during election season, and Democratic officials say that state Republicans will not change the law if the DNC keeps the new calendar in place.

 As for Illinois, their primary date has yet been set, with the Land of Lincoln having pushed to potentially be included in the early-voting states in 2024. In 2020, the state voted on March 17, along with Arizona and Florida.

Indiana was one of seven states, along with the District of Columbia, to vote on June 2.

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