Democrats will open US presidential race in South Carolina

The US Democratic presidential campaign will open in South Carolina in 2024 instead of Iowa, which traditionally kicked off the presidential nomination selection process.

The governing body, the rules committee of the Democratic National Committee, met on Friday in Washington to vote on the change.

The committee approved President Joe Biden's choice to have South Carolina kick off the presidential campaign for 2024, stripping Iowa of its first-in-the-nation status.

By tradition, the US Midwestern state of Iowa has been the first to caucus, giving it an outsize influence in selecting presidential candidates.

The 2008 Iowa caucuses, for example, were crucial for propelling former President Barack Obama to victory.

Obama said in an interview in 2018 that winning the 2008 Iowa caucuses was a "more powerful night than the night I was elected president."

Why is South Carolina important for Democrats?

Biden pushed for South Carolina to be the first state to host a primary because more than half of registered Democrats in the state are Black, whereas Iowa is 90% white. The change gives Black American voters a greater say in the nominating process.

The primaries will then be held in New Hampshire and Nevada, followed by Georgia and Michigan, Reuters reported.

"For decades, Black voters in particular have been the backbone of the Democratic Party but have been pushed to the back of the early primary process," Biden wrote in a letter to Democratic officials that was also released online.

"It's time to stop taking these voters for granted," Biden wrote.

What to know about the US presidential calendar

In the US, candidates go through a series of state primaries and caucuses, which have the same political purpose.

They are run differently, but serve the same function of letting states choose the political parties' nominees to run for the general election.

At stake in each primary or caucus is a certain number of delegates, or individuals who represent their state at national party conventions.

The candidate who receives a majority of the party's delegates wins the nomination. 

When primaries and caucuses are over, typically around June, political parties hold a national convention in the summer months, where the winning candidates receive their formal nomination.

For these reasons, candidates set up camp in early primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada in the months or years even before primaries and caucuses get underway.

Candidates who perform poorly in these early contests can suffer fundraising deficits, leading to campaigns collapsing and candidates bowing out of the race altogether.

rm/ar (AP)