Democrats vote to shake up 2024 presidential nomination process

In a move that upends nearly 50 years of tradition, members of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) – which oversees one of the two major political parties in the United States – have voted to reshuffle their primary calendar for the 2024 presidential race, Qazet.az reports.

South Carolina is now set to open the nominating schedule, followed by votes in New Hampshire and Nevada a week later.

The decision is slated to bump the Midwestern state of Iowa from the top spot. Since 1972, Iowa has kicked off the presidential nomination process with its first-in-the-nation caucuses.

While the shake-up is expected to be confirmed by the full DNC in a vote early next year, the move, announced on Friday, signals a power shift in US politics, as Democrats focus on building a more diverse voter base.

In the US, presidential nominees for the Republican and Democratic parties are determined through a series of state-by-state primary elections and caucuses. States that vote before Super Tuesday – the day when the greatest number of states hold their primaries – are thought to influence the outcome of each party’s nomination.