Dems' 2028 primary schedule angers some progressives

Some progressive Democrats are fuming that the party's new schedule for 2028 presidential primaries could make it harder for one of their own to win the party's nomination.

• A powerful Democratic National Committee panel voted Friday to kick off the primary in South Carolina — the state where progressive icon Bernie Sanders suffered landslide losses in the 2016 and 2020 primaries.

Why it matters: The panel's decision came with Democrats already divided over a wave of contentious 2026 primaries that have pitted an insurgent left against the party's more moderate establishment.

Zoom in: From Wisconsin to Michigan to Maine, top Democrats are trying to halt the left wing's momentum in the run-up to this year's midterms, favoring relatively centrist candidates they see as more electable.

• Some progressives view the elevation of South Carolina on the party's 2028 primary calendar as part of that effort.
• South Carolina edged out Nevada for the first spot on the primary schedule, stinging progressives because Sanders won the primary in the Silver State in 2020.
• Puck reported that some DNC members were concerned that making Nevada the first state to vote would boost another socialist candidate.

But even some DNC members were angry with the decision to put South Carolina first.

• A member of the DNC's Rules & Bylaws panel, which preliminarily OK'd the calendar, told Axios that "the public is swinging left, and the establishment is trying to fight the winds of change."
• The panel member added that putting South Carolina first could "shut down" a progressive presidential candidate, which is "not a strategy for winning the electorate."
• Branko Marcetic, a writer for the socialist magazine Jacobin, posted on social media that "the whole rationale is stopping a left-wing insurgent." Leftist streamer Hasan Piker snarkily suggested that South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn had too much power over the presidential nominating contest.

The other side: South Carolina Democratic Party chair Christale Spain told Axios that a progressive candidate such as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "absolutely" could win the state's primary.

• "I hate that the narrative kind of seems like 'Well, a progressive can't win in the South,'" said Spain, who worked for Sanders' 2016 campaign. "The work that you have to do in the South is retail politics."

Between the lines: The debate between progressives and traditional Democrats over South Carolina has at times been racially fraught partly because Sanders, who's white, twice fared poorly in a state where a sizable chunk of Democratic voters are Black.

• At the same time, Black Democrats viewed South Carolina's victory in the debate over the primary schedule as overdue recognition of their importance to the party.
• The DNC panel's decision on the primary schedule still must be ratified by the full DNC.

Whether progressives can break through with Black voters on a national scale is perhaps the most important question facing them ahead of the 2028 presidential primary.

• The left has had more recent success with Latino voters and Black voters under 50, especially in the Northeast, but it's not clear that would be enough to carry a presidential primary in which older Black voters across the South are a key constituency.
• Sanders performed well with Latinos and young Black voters, and it wasn't enough.

The intrigue: Some progressives believe the new calendar could work to their advantage — but not necessarily because they think they could win in South Carolina.

• The state previously played a decisive role as the final contest before the traditional string of primaries on Super Tuesday. Now, they argue, South Carolina may serve more as a culling mechanism than a kingmaker.
• A former Sanders senior campaign aide said the senator "might have been unstoppable" in 2020 if the Democrats' new calendar had been in place then.