National Democrats voice support for plan that could upend Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses

Brianne Pfannenstiel
Des Moines Register

Members of the Democratic National Committee expressed support for a plan to restructure the party's presidential nominating calendar, possibly upending Iowa's decades-long role as the lead-off state, at a virtual meeting Monday.

The DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee, which sets the primary calendar, discussed a proposal that would allow any U.S. state or territory to apply to host one of the early nominating contests. 

The proposal, first reported by the Des Moines Register earlier this month, outlines principles the committee would consider when evaluating those applications. They include a state's diversity, its general election competitiveness and "the ability to run (a) fair, transparent and inclusive nominating process."

Many members of the committee endorsed the proposal and urged their colleagues to support it as well. 

For 50 years, Iowa's caucuses have marked the start of the the primary election process, followed by New Hampshire's contest a week later. More recently, Nevada and South Carolina were exempted from the DNC's rule that no other state can hold a nominating contest prior to the first Tuesday in March. The four states currently make up the early voting window. If the resolution is approved, as many as five states could be part of that early process.

The proposal gives no formal weight in the application process to states like Iowa that have already been holding early contests. And members of the committee have been clear in previous meetings that they don't believe Iowa matches the criteria they've laid out. 

More:'Status quo is not an option', Democrats discuss changes to calendar that could leave Iowa caucuses out

Still, committee members promised the application process would create a level playing field for any state wishing to apply.

"I think this resolution lays out the right process that not only achieves the goals of diversity, inclusion and transparency, but it does so in a fair and just manner," said committee member Maria Cardona of Washington, D.C. "And as we discussed a couple of weeks ago, all the states who have an interest in going early are going to have a chance to make their case, and I don't think anyone can argue that that isn't the fair way to put this forward — that no one is going to have a leg up on anybody else."

Members of the Democratic National Committee expressed support for a plan to restructure the party's presidential nominating calendar, possibly upending Iowa's decades-long role as the lead-off state.

Committee member Carol Fowler of South Carolina said she hoped the committee would create a process to hear from past or future presidential aspirants who could describe what they want in an early state. 

"Which brings me to the thing that presidential candidates have always wanted from us, which is that the early states be small states," she said. "And I do not see that listed in this framework."

Iowa's party leaders have long argued that one of the state's key benefits is its relatively small geography, which allows candidates to campaign across all 99 counties before moving to larger, more expensive states. 

"I hope that we will continue to have the upfront window be as accessible as possible to candidates and not slide into a situation where essentially we end up with four large states up front in an election decided based on mass media markets," said committee member David McDonald of Washington state.

More:What's next for the Iowa caucuses? 'Odds are stacked against us,' state's Democratic chair says

Committee Co-Chair Jim Roosevelt, Jr., of Massachusetts, said he hopes the committee will vote on an updated version of the proposal at its April meeting.

The proposed resolution says that within seven days of adoption, the committee will provide information to state parties outlining the specific rules and procedures they'll need to follow in order to submit their applications. State parties would be given at least 28 days to submit their applications to the committee. 

McDonald expressed some concern about the timeline. He said that if the committee adopts the resolution in April, it will need to move quickly to provide the necessary information to states within seven days — information the committee has not yet discussed publicly.

"That seems to be ambitious unless you've got something in the works now," he said. 

The proposal says the committee would evaluate the applications and select a subset of applicants to publicly present their cases and answer questions. The committee would announce the results of its evaluation no later than six weeks after the application deadline. 

Iowa's representative to the committee, Scott Brennan, highlighted a portion of the resolution that says the committee's goal in constructing a nominating process that "ultimately produces the strongest possible Democratic nominee for president."

"That has to be our touchstone," he said. "And I just want to make sure that we keep that in mind throughout this process."

Iowa Democratic Party Chair Ross Wilburn previously told the Register he would be prepared to help make Iowa's case as soon as the process is laid out. 

"I'm going to continue to fight like hell for Iowa," he said. 

Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.