SC Democratic Primary

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the S.C. NAACP's King Day at the Dome event in Columbia, S.C. on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024.

Vice President Kamala Harris flew to South Carolina on Friday to file paperwork putting President Joe Biden on the 2024 presidential ballot of the state, which will lead off the Democratic presidential primary thanks to a White House-led schedule overhaul meant to better empower Black voters.

Iowa Democrats are proposing a novel way to get around their demotion from the leadoff spot on the party's presidential nominating calendar: They would still put on the first-in-the-nation caucuses but would be open to withholding the results until after other states have their contests. The creative approach is the latest effort by the Iowa Democratic Party to claw back the prized slot it held for nearly 50 years until chaos during the state's 2020 presidential caucuses led the Democratic National Committee to reorder the calendar.

New Hampshire voters would decide whether to enshrine the state's first-in-the-nation presidential primary in their constitution under a bill passed by the state Senate. If 60% of the House agrees, voters would be asked in November 2024 whether to add language to the constitution mirroring an existing state law that requires the primary to be held at least seven days before any similar contest. It was one of two bills passed by the Senate as a rebuke to the Democratic National Committee, which last month approved replacing the Iowa caucus with the South Carolina primary in the leadoff position in 2024 and having New Hampshire share the second slot with Nevada.

Trav Robertson won't seek another term leading South Carolina's Democrats. Robertson told The Associated Press on Wednesday he's backing longtime operative Christale Spain in her bid to become the first Black woman elected state party chair. Robertson has led the state's Democrats since 2017, when he took over from Jaime Harrison, who's now the Democratic National Committee chair. The party's national prominence has risen, with the DNC voting to make South Carolina first to vote on its 2024 presidential primary calendar.

President Joe Biden says Democrats should give up "restrictive" caucuses and move to champion diversity in the order of their presidential primary calendar. His recommendation deals a major blow to Iowa's decadeslong status as the state that leads off the process. In a letter to the rule-making arm of the Democratic National Committee, Biden does not mention specific states he'd like to see go first. But he's told Democrats he would like to see South Carolina moved to the front of the calendar, according to three people familiar with his recommendation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. He recommends that Michigan and Georgia move into the first five states.

The Democratic Party is delaying a decision on potentially reordering its primary calendar for the 2024 presidential election until after November's midterm elections. The Democratic National Committee's rules committee had planned to decide during meetings in Washington set to begin next week. The question is whether to recommend that presidential voting should continue to begin with Iowa and New Hampshire. Some party leaders and activists say more diverse states should move up, including the current No. 3 and No. 4 states, Nevada and South Carolina.

State Rep. Krystle Matthews has won the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina. Matthews was the second-place finisher in a June 14 primary and defeated author and preservationist Catherine Fleming Bruce in Tuesday's runoff. Matthews said she wants to change a toxic culture she says leads senators and others in power to strip away the rights of minorities and those who are in the most need of protection. Scott has been one of South Carolina's more popular politicians. The Senate's sole Black Republican had no primary opposition and has said this will be his last term if he is reelected.