The DNC has decided where the first in the nation vote will be and their decision was South Carolina.
Progressives are not thrilled with this choice….
Democrats just set the opening scene for 2028—and the party’s left flank is not applauding. A key Democratic National Committee rules panel voted Friday to make South Carolina the first presidential primary state, sidelining Nevada and igniting fears among progressives that the move is designed to blunt another Bernie Sanders–style bid. South Carolina is where Sanders was trounced in both 2016 and 2020, and one panel member told Axios the choice risks “shutting down” a progressive contender rather than reflecting “the winds of change” while “the public is swinging left.”
The fight is layered with questions of ideology and race. Critics on the left, including Jacobin writer Branko Marcetic and streamer Hasan Piker, see the decision as an establishment play to block a “left-wing insurgent,” while some DNC members reportedly worried Nevada’s first-in-the-nation status could turbocharge a socialist candidate. Sanders easily won the Nevada caucuses in 2020 with help from organized labor allies, Puck notes. Earlier that month, Sanders won the New Hampshire primaries, with Joe Biden finishing fifth. But Biden went on to score a resounding victory in South Carolina, finishing ahead of Sanders in every county.
South Carolina Democratic Party chair Christale Spain, a former Sanders staffer, argues that a progressive such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could “absolutely” win there—if they master retail politics in the South. The full DNC still has to ratify the calendar, but the deeper test for progressives remains whether they can finally break through with the older Black voters who dominate Southern primaries.
Will this make a difference?
The DNC is a dysfunctional mess and hoping blacks show up to vote will somehow save them.
Even that fossil James Carville sees how screwed up the DNC has become….he has even suggested the Hogg take over the leadership of the DNC.
Hogg was run out of the DNC earlier this year for his extreme views and yet a centrist slug like Carville says he would be a good choice for leader.
I do not necessarily disagree but beyond that I want to know what Carville’s game is….it is not at all like him to side with the more progressive Dems.
He is up to something….or he is got some sort of mental issue that comes with extreme age.
Educate, Agitate
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
Daily Agitator 
If Spain actually believes AOC would win in SC, she shouldn’t be in charge of anything more important than a hot dog cart.
What I see when I look at the reaction of the Democratic party , especially at the national level, to politicians like Mamdani and Hong in Wisconsin, is a group of people who aren’t interested in actually communicating with the actual real voters out here in the real world. What they are is utterly terrified that the “good old boy” network of patronage, legalized bribery and kowtowing to the oligarchs who bought their souls is going to fall apart. They and the GOP have become so comfortable with the status quo and so dependent on it that when they see the popularity of these new politicians, people who want to actually change things, that instead of admitting that they need to change their policies to match the needs of their voters, they do everything they can to discredit them.
And they should be terrified. Hong has such a huge lead over the next Democratic contender in the primary, Crowley, that it’s ridiculous. Especially with young people. In one of the last polls I saw she was leading Crowley by something like 40% among 18 – 29 year olds.
SC was picked because Dems know that they will vote straight ticket…..chuq
I just don’t see the Democratic Party establishment ever embracing progressivism. We will always be under their thumb as long as they’re being corrupted by big moneyed interests. Something momentous must occur for change to transform the party – a serious thrashing at the ballot box or some other damaging event which would trigger wholesale defections.
Robert I agree….they are too addicted to the money from special interests…the young I think will make the difference. chuq
I’m hoping!
It seems to me that the mainstream Democrats do not actually want to win the next election. Too many of them are doing very nicely in opposition, and they do not want progressives coming along and disrupting their gravy-trains.
Best wishes, Pete.
Pete that is the bottom line….they want to keep their lucrative apple cart. chuq