While the Republican Party gears up to host the anticipated Iowa Republican Caucus on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, the state’s Democratic Party is doing things a little differently.
The Iowa Democratic Party will release the results of presidential preference cards sent by mail in early March and hold a caucus “without recording presidential preference results” Monday to follow the party’s national lineup calendar, allowing South Carolina to go first.
Democrats in Iowa are able to submit their presidential preferences on an online or mailed preference sheet, which they can request until Feb. 19. The results of those preferences will be announced by the Iowa Democratic Party on March 5. The names on the preference sheet include President Joe Biden, Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, two-time candidate Marianne Williamson and an “undeclared” option.
The in-person portion of the Iowa Democratic caucus will take place at 7 p.m. Monday at all designated precincts to maintain some semblance of its former first-in-the-nation prestige. While Republican precincts in Iowa will begin the GOP’s process of nominating a Republican candidate, Democrats will use Monday to conduct party business like “elect unbound delegates and alternate delegates to county conventions, elect county central committee members and discuss platform resolutions,” according to the Iowa Democratic Party’s website.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) traditionally held first-in-the-nation caucus events in Iowa because of the state’s detailed districting and clear convention structure. The 2020 Iowa Democratic caucus raised eyebrows in the DNC when results were delayed six days after an issue with a mobile app created to tally votes. Concerns about technical glitches and the state’s pertinency to the DNC lead President Biden to request that the party change its caucus ordering to reflect party support from minority voters more accurately.
Biden ranked fourth in the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucus, according to the New York Times. United States Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (43,209 votes), Sen. Bernie Sanders (45,652 votes) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (34,909 votes) ranked above Biden’s 23,605 votes. Biden, however, won South Carolina’s primaries with 48.6% of votes.
Biden selected Jaime Harrison to step into the role of DNC chair in 2021 and under Harrison, the DNC subsequently moved the only early-voting state Biden won, South Carolina, to first-in-the-nation.
The DNC released a primary calendar in 2022 that excluded Iowa from the list of early-voting states.
“Small rural states like Iowa must have a voice in our Presidential nominating process,” former Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rep. Ross Wilburn stated in a Dec. 2022 press release. “Democrats cannot forget about entire groups of voters in the heart of the midwest without doing significant damage to the party for a generation.”
The approved DNC voting calendar begins with South Carolina on Feb. 3 followed by New Hampshire, Nevada, Georgia and Michigan. Notably, Nevada is replacing its caucus with a primary election.
The Iowa Democratic Party hopes to regain early voting status in the 2028 election. Since Biden is seeking reelection in 2024, the Democratic caucus is less influential than other election cycles.
Story County Democratic Chair Madalyn Anderson said that the Story County Democrats are adhering to the state code that requires precincts to hold caucuses no later than the fourth Monday in February of each even-numbered year.
“The Iowa Democratic Caucuses meet this state law requirement by electing our Delegates on the date specified,” Anderson stated over email communication. “We also are adhering to the DNC schedule by expressing our Presidential Preference later and during the time frame they have set.”
Anderson also said Iowa was removed as an early-voting state because the DNC wanted states with a more diverse population to be earlier in the schedule. The new early-voting states are South Carolina, Nevada and Michigan. Notably, New Hampshire is holding its primary before any other Democratic contest but because that breaks the DNC calendar, it is not sanctioned, and delegates will not be awarded.
