The DNC voted in favor of revising the 2024 presidential primary schedule last weekend. This move was specifically to rig the primary season in favor of Joe Biden. Democrats know that Biden is deeply unpopular and only a small percentage of Democrats want him to run for reelection. The schedule changes in the states that will be early states to keep results in Biden’s favor have created a controversy within the party and the states affected by the changes.
Take New Hampshire, for example. The state known as the First in the Nation means business. It is not giving up the title without a fight. New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair, Ray Buckley warned national Democrat leaders that the new plan to change up the Democrat primary schedule will cause an unsanctioned event. And, don’t look for Republicans to abide by a new schedule, either. An unsanctioned Democrat event may “create an opening for an insurgent candidate — serious or not — who can garner media attention and capitalize on Granite Stater’s anger about being passed over by [Biden’s] campaign.”
And, just like that, a candidate from the crowded 2020 Democrat field, Marianne Williamson, scheduled a trip to New Hampshire. I’m not saying that kooky Marianne Williamson will become a challenge to Biden’s campaign, but she does know how to get media attention. Joe Biden needs all the attention on him. Americans are already disillusioned with him as president, even Democrats, so he has to find a way to hold the attention of 2024 voters. That means positive attention, not his usual brand of attention, which is highlighting his flubs and lies, and downright weird behavior. You know what I’m talking about. The old man is dazed, confused, and inept.
One of the changes in the 2024 Democrat primary schedule is Georgia. Ever since Biden was elected, I said Georgia will get the undivided attention of Joe Biden and the Democrats. Every time Biden hits the campaign trail to promote one of his horrible policy ideas, where does he go? Georgia. More specifically, Atlanta. It’s usually at a black college. He knows the voters he needs. Now that Senator Warnock has been elected to a full term, Democrats are determined to keep Georgia as a purple state, no longer a deep red state. If I was placing a bet, I’d bet that the DNC chooses Atlanta for its convention. But, what about Republicans? What do they think of an accelerated primary schedule? One important Republican name is all for making Georgia an early state – Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Raffensperger sets Georgia’s primary dates. This is the first time he has endorsed the idea of Georgia as an early nominating state. The catch is that he doesn’t want to make the change as quickly as the Democrats do. He said he’d back an early primary in 2028, not 2024.
“Georgia would be a great early primary state in 2028,” Raffensperger told the AP.
“It has a good cross-section of engaged voters from both parties, and, as everyone seems to now recognize, we run great elections,” the secretary added in a dig at Democrats’ assertions that he and Republican Gov. Brian Kemp have worked to limit ballot access.
This shows the challenge facing Democrats as they try to rig the system so that states with more diverse voting populations (especially black voters) go early instead of states with predominantly white populations, like New Hampshire. Biden is counting on black voters to reelect him as he counted on them after Rep. James Clyburn’s endorsement in South Carolina in the 2020 race. Biden and the Democrats want South Carolina as a first state now, not New Hampshire, or even Iowa. The RNC has not changed its calendar. There seems to be little interest in doing so.
Can Democrats find enough support among other elected officials in Georgia to change the schedule? That remains to be seen.
Top Georgia Democrats including Sen. Raphael Warnock and U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams of Atlanta support a presidential primary move, and the state party’s former executive director, Scott Hogan, has taken on the role of the top unofficial lobbyist for the idea, reaching out to Republicans and the business community.
“This isn’t just a political conversation. This is very much an economic conversation,” Williams, who is also the state Democratic chairwoman, said in an interview before Raffensperger’s latest statements about the matter. “It’s a benefit across the board, whether Republicans or Democrats.”
Audrey Haynes, a University of Georgia professor tracking the debate, cited studies showing how much more influential an average American voter becomes when they live in an early nominating state. The economic boon, she added, ranges from candidates’ television advertising to a year’s worth of tourism and consumer spending by traveling national media and the top campaigns’ permanent field staffers.
“There’s just all this spending to go along with the attention on voters and on local elected officials,” Haynes said.
Perhaps making the argument that it is a good economic decision for the state will win over some Republican support. However, Raffensperger notes that the RNC schedule is already set. The usual slate of early states remains in place – Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada.
“This type of move would need to be equitable, take place on the same day, and ensure that no one loses delegates,” Raffensperger said, offering no indications that he’d try to persuade the RNC to reconsider.
Jordan Fuchs, Raffensperger’s deputy, said calendar reshuffles must “at the start” be a “bipartisan decision,” a tacit acknowledgment that Biden being the genesis of Democrats’ plan does it no favors in Georgia.
I’m not holding my breath for any changes with the GOP. Why should they? I keep thinking about what the reaction on the left would be if it was Republicans rigging the primary cycle for, say, Donald Trump. The outrage would be heard across the country.
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