By admin 
With South Carolina Democrats planning to hold their presidential primary Jan. 22, 2028, now Republicans have to decide when they want to have their primary.
Read more Here are some of the SC residents — and animals — who hold Guinness World Records
The Palmetto State will be the first in the nation primary for Democrats. South Carolina Republicans will hold the GOP’s first in the South contest.
Both primaries have proven pivotal in whom each party nominates to be president.
SC GOP Chairman Drew McKissick told reporters that he and leaders of the Republican parties in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada will meet at the Republican National Committee’s meeting in September in Dallas to discuss the calendar, including when the early window closes.
Iowa state law requires it hold the first in the nation caucus. New Hampshire has a law that says it has to hold the first primary in the country at least seven days before any similar contest.
With South Carolina Democrats set to hold their primary on Jan. 22, 2028, it means the Iowa and New Hampshire Republican contests will most likely take place before that.
South Carolina state law requires parties to give the state election commission a 90-day notice of when the primary will take place.
“That gives us the most flexibility, so you know we let those guys deal with what they need to do in terms of statutes and any rules changes they need to do anything like that, and then we look at what’s left of the calendar,” McKissick said.
Democrats plan to have Super Tuesday on March 7.
Republicans are still unclear on when its early window ends, but McKissick said he suspects the SC GOP’s primary will land late in February 2028, allowing the state to receive nearly exclusive attention from those seeking national office.
“I am not averse to South Carolina Republicans owning as much of the calendar as they possibly can,” McKissick said. “Let’s put it that way. I think all candidates often have to spend an inordinate amount of time in South Carolina going to every chicken dinner and barbecue they can all around the state. So, if I had to do it, they ought to have to do.”
In 2024, after Democrats set the South Carolina primary for Feb. 3, the New Hampshire primaries were set for Jan 23. Iowa held its GOP Caucus Jan. 15.
South Carolina Republicans held their first in the South primary Feb. 24, a full month after New Hampshire. It led to a month of campaigning in the state by former Gov. Nikki Haley and President Donald Trump.
Read more ‘Truly Trump country.’ Political muscle decisive for Graham’s victory in SC
Both primaries have been pivotal
Winning the South Carolina primary has proved pivotal for both major parties.
Since 1980 the winner of the SC GOP presidential primary has gone on to win the nomination all but one time.
Since 1992, the winner of the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary has gone on to be the party’s nominee, except for 2024 when President Joe Biden won the primary but later dropped out of the race, and in 2004, when John Edwards won the primary but lost the nomination to John Kerry. Edwards, however, went on to be Kerry’s vice presidential running mate.
South Carolina already has been receiving attention from potential candidates before the schedule has been set.
U.S. Sens. John Kennedy of Louisiana, and Ted Cruz of Texas, and Louisiana Gov. John Landry have made appearances at Republican events this year.
On the Democratic side, Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg spoke at the Spratt Issues Conference in Florence.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris, Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, California Congressman Ro Khanna and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanual have been among the high-profile Democrats to come to South Carolina.
“The biggest difference, of course, is going to be that this will be competitive, right, because we don’t have a Democratic president,” SC Democratic Party Chairwoman Christale Spain said. “I think that we’re going to have a big first in the nation calendar. Number one, we’re going to build some infrastructure around first in the nation, so that our candidates can come in and have a place to engage these voters.”
South Carolina Democrats have played “clean up” hitter in previous cycles. After Biden lost the fist three nominating contests in 2020, he won the Palmetto State, which propelled him to the nomination and the White House.
Spain dismissed being first in the order could dilute the state’s influence.
“I don’t think that changes anything. I think our voters are the same. I think that we’ll probably get a better opportunity to be introduced to and spend time with all the candidates. I don’t think that it changes the way our voters are going to vote,” Spain said. “Our voters are the same. The amount of attention we’re going to get is going to increase substantially.”
Read more ‘Truly Trump country.’ Political muscle decisive for Graham’s victory in SC