Iowa may no longer be the first stop on a presidential candidate’s campaign if the Democratic National Committee approves a proposal by Washington, D.C.’s City Council.

The council unanimously passed a motion that would make the city’s primary on Jan. 13 instead of in May, which would be ahead of the Iowa caucus.

Anthony Clem, treasurer of the Story County Republicans, said Iowa will lose a lot of national attention if the Washington, D.C., primary is moved to an earlier date.

“That would be a huge loss for us,” he said. “There’s a lot of attention that’s paid to the state, being the first one.”

Clem said having the first caucus benefits Iowa economically and in marketing.

“It gives us a chance to market our state and we greatly need that,” he said.

Clem said Washington, D.C., wants to hold the first primary election to market the city, the same way Iowa uses the caucus to market the state.

Steffen Schmidt, university professor of political science, said he is worried the primary in Washington, D.C., will cause problems in the Iowa caucus.

“The Iowa Democratic Party will say that it is against it and then someone will start threatening the candidates that if they participate in the Washington, D.C., primary then Iowans won’t vote for them,” he said.

Clem said the candidates who come to Iowa bring in economic resources because they stay in Iowa for several days when they are here for the caucuses. He said candidates often return after the initial caucus as well.

“George W. Bush has been here six times,” he said. “They know what the state means for getting off to a good start.”

Jan Bauer, chairwoman of the Story County Democrats, said she is not worried about a primary being held in Washington, D.C., until it gets approved by the Democratic National Committee.

She said even if it is approved, she doesn’t believe it will change the importance of Iowa’s caucus.

“I’m not thinking it’s going to impact the caucuses much,” Bauer said. “Life in Washington, D.C., is very different than in the rest of the country, so I don’t think the candidates would forget about Iowa just because of the D.C. primary.”

— The Washington Post contributed to this article.