Democratic National Committee (DNC) President Ken Martin said on Sunday that the party will start considering 2028 primary calendar at a meeting in Minianpolis later this month.
“We are going to start this month’s conversation in this month,” Martin said in an interview on the news “The Hill Sunday.”
“Rules and Bylaws Committee, which has been composed, will start this conversation by carrying forward the rules and procedures, and in fact it will begin to find out how we are going to engage in it,” he continued.
Martin said that the process would be out of next year, and he hopes to set a calendar by the end of next year.
Stervelt asked Martin about the party’s 2024 postmortem questions, especially about the decision to request President Biden’s decision to transfer the primary calendar in favor of South Carolina and Michigan – in which Biden was expected to perform well.
Stervelt noted the primary calendar changes, “possibly untouched to the assured president for an unexpected degree,” pointing to the fact that Biden waited until July to end his campaign.
But Martin, who was elected a chair in February, said that he is committed to make the process fair and said that any state that an initial primary date wants to bid and consider it.
“The process of having states is appropriate and open to bid for it,” he said. “Any state that wants to be part of the window of early states will be considered by DNC.”
Martin also said that he estimates a crowded primary area in 2028 and said that he wants to ensure that the process of installing the calendar is directed by three principles: “One, it is rigid. Two, it is to be efficient. Three, it is fair.”
“It must be rigid, in the sense that this fight tests our nominated person and prepare them for the general election,” he said, expanding the first principle.
Martin said that it should be “skilled” in such a way that “we do not bankrupt our candidates in the early part of this process,” saying, “We want them to have resources for the general election because the only award that is the case is November.”
“And the third thing is that it is appropriate,” he said. “This is to allow all our candidates, who know how many candidates we are going to, actually to compete in those early states.”
