Iowa Democratic Party officials are asking national party leaders to restore their Iowa Caucuses to first-in-the-nation status, and former Iowa Democratic Party Chair Scott Brennan — a member of the Democratic National Committee — says the party’s decision about the 2028 presidential campaign calendar should be made after the November election.
“Iowa is very competitive this cycle. Our governor’s race is a toss up. Three out of our four congresional seats are fully in play and we also have a strong chance to send an Iowa Democratic senator to Washington. That is why this committee should aalso consider holding off making a decision about the calendar until after the midterms,” Brennan said earlier today during a meeting of the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Commitee. “Shame on us if we negatively impact any of the races in any of the applicant states.”
Iowa is among a dozen states competing for early slots in the Democratic Party’s 2028 presidential nominating process. Former Iowa Democratic Party chair Ross Wilburn said compared to Illinois or Michigan, Iowa is a more affordable place to compaign and it’s where candidates can reconnect with rural, working class voters. “It’s critical for Democrats to campaign and invest in states like Iowa if we want to secure large, sustainable nationwide majorities,” Wilburn said.
The Iowa Republican Party’s Caucuses were the first voting event in the 2024 presidential race and Wilburn noted presidential candidates who may compete in the Iowa GOP’s first-in-the-nation Caucuses in 2028 are already visiting Iowa.”Democrats, we can’t afford to continue to let Republicans have a spotlight and the megaphone in Iowa,” Wilburn said.
One member of the panel said he didn’t understand how the changes Iowa Democrats are making in their 2028 Caucuses would avoid what happened in 2020, when full results weren’t available on Caucus Night. Iowa Democrats say all presidential preferences in their 2028 Caucuses will be written on paper, so no more standing in groups and doing complicated math to determine a winner, plus people who cannot attend on Caucus Night would have an option to cast a preference card early, by the mail. Iowa Democrats did a trial run of that mail-in process for their 2024 Caucuses.
Michael Kapp, a DNC member from California, raised concerns about Iowa House Minority Leader Brian Meyer’s suggestion that Iowa Democrats should “go rogue” and hold their Caucuses first if the DNC fails to put Iowa in the lead-off position in 2028. Brennan said the goal is to abide by DNC edicts and he characterized Meyer’s remarks as part of the “silly season” when cameras are around. Wilburn said Meyer was trying to “hammer home” his support for regaining first-in-the-nation status for the Iowa Democratic Party’s Caucuses. “With the support of the DNC we can continue to have those over-performances in elections,” Wilburn added, a reference to four out of five special election victories for Democrats running for open seats in the Iowa House and Senate. “…We just think Iowa has a great history with people, candidates who haven’t had the resources, who have great ideas, but need to test those ideas, hone them out and it comes out beautifullly in Iowa. The best of that is the wave that we saw from President Barack Obama.”
Obama won the 2008 Iowa Caucuses, defeating Hillary Clinton who was the perceived frontrunner in the race.
