WASHINGTON — The Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee held a meeting in Washington on May 28 to consider proposals from states seeking early primary slots in the presidential nominating calendar. Twelve states applied to the committee for an early primary slot since January. The meeting took place at the Washington Hilton.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham requested that the committee rearrange its meeting agenda. The committee agreed to her request, allowing her to return to Santa Fe on the evening of May 28. "The mistake we've made as a party is that we don't give people something to vote for," Lujan Grisham said. "This job is enough to get you divorced every day." She added, "New Mexico is the entire story."

President Joe Biden expressed concern in December 2022 that the Democratic Party had not recognized the importance of Black voters in the nominating calendar. The committee selected South Carolina as the first primary state on February 4, 2023. Christale Spain, Chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party, said, "That was kind of what elevated South Carolina to be first, was the Biden letter."

Spain also discussed the importance of states like South Carolina in the primary process. "If we ever, ever want to get another Jimmy Carter, another Barack Obama, another Pete Buttigieg, we have to have states like South Carolina in the window, because if we don't, and we start putting in states like Virginia and starting with these super expensive, these large states, these candidates will never be able to get off the ground," Spain said. Minyon Moore, Co-chair of the Rules and Bylaws Committee, noted that "Everybody's lining up. Everybody is doing their own set of lobbying."

The Democratic National Committee is expected to make its decision on the primary calendar by late summer. Iowa has hosted the first Presidential caucuses since 1972, and New Hampshire has hosted the first primary since 1920.