Iowa Democrats said they plan to “work in good faith” with the national party as it sets its 2028 presidential primary calendar, but they didn’t rule out holding a rogue first-in-the-nation caucus if they get squeezed out of a top spot.
“Iowa law requires that we be a caucus and that we go before any competing process,” Iowa Democrat Scott Brennan told the Democratic National Committee’s powerful Rules and Bylaws Committee Wednesday, May 27.
Brennan and state Rep. Ross Wilburn, both former state party chairs, made an in-person appeal to the committee in Washington, D.C., as the group weighs how to reorder the early voting calendar.
“We’re here to work in good faith with y’all,” Brennan said. “We would like to comply with whatever the committee does. But the bottom line is that, you know, ultimately, Iowans will decide.”
Iowa is one of 12 states making the pitch for an early spot on the presidential nominating calendar.
Selection would mean outsize attention and political influence ahead of what is expected to be a sprawling and competitive primary season to succeed President Donald Trump, who is term-limited from running again.
For Iowa, it would mean a return to prominence on the national stage after being stripped of its long held first-in-the-nation caucus tradition after a disastrous 2020 caucus.
The committee plans to choose one state from each of four geographic regions, as well as a potential wildcard fifth state.
Iowa is competing against Illinois and Michigan for consideration in the Midwest region, and it faces long odds.
Longtime DNC member Maria Cardona, who represents Washington, D.C., said the committee would discuss Iowa’s request and keep an open mind. But she said she still finds the state’s caucuses problematic.
“Nothing in terms of Iowa has changed for me,” she said. “I don’t think it should be in the early window.”
Brennan and Wilburn argued that a truly Midwestern and rural state such as Iowa is necessary as Democrats work to rebuild trust with voters who have abandoned them in droves in favor of Republicans.
They also said that Democrats need to have a presence in Iowa to counteract the messaging from Republicans, who are scheduled to once again go first in the U.S. when they hold their party’s Iowa Caucuses for 2028.
“The perceptions of Democrats abandoning rural America and Iowa continues to be a difficult narrative to overcome, especially when significant Republican funding pours into our state,” Wilburn said.
Members of the committee have said the final calendar should include a grouping of states that, when taken together, represent the wider electorate.
The applicants are:
The committee plans to hear from applicants over two days. But it’s not clear how quickly leaders expect to make a final determination.
Leah Daughtry, who represents New York on the panel, said Iowa made “a very strong argument” but faces “stiff competition” to represent the Midwest in the early window.
The wildcard: new panel members who weren’t part of the process four years ago, when Democrats booted Iowa from its spot at the front of the primary calendar.
“It’s a mixed bag about how people think about the history and what they want to do going forward. But certainly, top of mind for everyone is: What gives us the strongest nominee coming out of the process,” said Daughtry, who has twice chaired the Democratic National Convention in 2008 and 2016.
“So it’s not one state, it’s the set of states taken together before the window opens that we’re looking at.”
Iowa Democrats pitch streamlined caucus process
Iowa pitched a streamlined caucus process that state leaders say would make for a more accessible and efficient presidential nominating event.
They are proposing opening an absentee window to allow Democrats to indicate their presidential preferences by mail ahead of an in-person caucus.
Iowa Democrats also will be able to indicate their presidential preferences at the in-person caucus, but gone will be the caucus format of years past when Democrats had to physically stand and be counted to show their support for a candidate.
Brennan promised the national committee the complicated math and “state delegate equivalents” are gone.
Instead, Democrats will express their preferences for their favorite candidate in writing.
The party plans to hire a vendor to ensure it can release the full set of results on Caucus Night.
Some committee members still appeared skeptical that the changes would work as planned.
Brennan said Iowa Democrats hired an elections vendor in 2024 when it held an entirely absentee caucus and called it a “beta test” ahead of the more competitive 2028 election.
“We had no glitches whatsoever,” he said. “And so our intention is to hire someone like them again. And I think that they can handle the process.”
To help sweeten up committee members, Iowa Democrats brought swag bags that included RAYGUN notebooks, Farmers Best popcorn from Worthington, and stickers from Bozz Prints in Valley Junction that say, “There’s always an Iowa connection.”
A video that featured Hart and an array of newscasters talking about the state also played to kick off the presentation.
“Having small states, right, the barrier to entry is simply lower,” famed journalist Chuck Todd says during a podcast clip included in the video. “And it allows a former mayor of South Bend to try to jump in. If it wasn’t for Iowa, Bernie Sanders wouldn’t be relevant. If it wasn’t for Iowa, Barack Obama might not have been president of the United States. Iowa’s been pretty good to the Democratic Party.”
Will Iowa and New Hampshire defy the DNC to go first no matter what?
Iowa Democrats have long left open the possibility of rebuffing the DNC’s decision on the 2028 calendar. But they have not said directly if they will defy the national group’s decision if Iowa isn’t included in the early window.
Republican Party of Iowa Chair Jeff Kaufmann urged Democrats to “show real leadership” for Iowa and go first, regardless of what the DNC decides.
“Iowa Democrats need to tell the DNC that Iowa intends to lead with or without its blessing,” he wrote on social media. “And if the DNC refuses and Rita Hart simply accepts it, many Iowans will see that as nothing less than a slap in the face to the Hawkeye State.”
That matches calls from some Iowa Democratic leaders, such as state House Minority Leader Rep. Brian Meyer, who told national news website NOTUS he “triple dog dares” the DNC to not seat Iowa’s delegates at the national convention if the state defies their wishes.
Some members of the committee laughed upon hearing Meyer’s quote read aloud, although others seemed less amused.
“The media’s looking for stories. People are willing to step forward,” Wilburn said. “They’re trying to hammer on their support for Iowa, their support for Democrats.”
Asked whether Iowa would abide by the DNC’s decision, Brennan said the Iowa Democratic Party “has long striven to comply with this committee’s restrictions, and certainly that would be our goal at this time.”
Meyer has been outspoken in his belief that Iowa should go first regardless of the national party’s whims.
But rank-and-file Iowa Democrats are split nearly down the middle about whether the state party should flout the DNC’s decision, according to a survey the late last year.
The national committee posed similar questions to New Hampshire representatives about whether they intend to comply with the final calendar. New Hampshire is applying to be the Eastern state on the calendar.
Much like Iowa, New Hampshire was stripped of its long-held first-in-the-nation primary status in 2024, although it held onto an official spot in the early nominating window.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan said her state would do “everything we can to comply with the decision.”
But she noted that the state law requiring New Hampshire to hold the nation’s first presidential primary remains on the books and will not change.
“I know the secretary (of state) will schedule the New Hampshire primary far ahead of time,” she said. “And there will be candidates who come in. And I expect there will be Democratic candidates who come in if that is scheduled.”
Other Midwest states make their cases to DNC
Illinois and Michigan are competing with Iowa to claim the Midwest spot on the calendar.
Representatives from Illinois argued the state is diverse, has accessible elections and is easy to travel, “even in winter things keep moving when in other states they come to a screeching halt.”
“In Illinois, you don’t campaign with one kind of voter,” a supporting video said. “You build a coalition that looks like America.”
Asked what made it unique, Illinois leaders said the state’s concentration of major donors set it apart.
Michigan was elevated into the early voting window in 2024.
Representatives for the state said Michigan is the “ultimate battleground state” that reflects the country’s diversity. They highlighted the state’s organized labor and union background and said every investment in the state is an investment in the general election.
USA TODAY reporter Francesca Chambers contributed to this report.
Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Des Moines Register. She writes about campaigns, elections and the Iowa Caucuses. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on X at @brianneDMR.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa faces ‘stiff competition’ as it seeks early spot on 2028 calendar
Reporting by Brianne Pfannenstiel, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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