CRUCIAL QUOTE
“When South Carolina goes first… the Deep South goes first, Black voters go first,” South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Christale Spain said earlier this week. “Black voters are the backbone of this party, and so we should continue to elevate Black voters’ role in the process, not push it further back.”
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BIG NUMBER
76.5%. That’s the percentage of South Carolina’s early voters in the 2024 Democratic primary who were Black. Roughly 25% of South Carolina residents are Black and, historically, Black voters have made up more than half of South Carolina Democratic primary voters.
what to watch for
Which states the Republicans choose. The Republican National Committee has not announced its official 2028 presidential nominating calendar yet, but party leaders are widely expected to keep the traditional early-state lineup of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.
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Key background
The order in which states vote in the presidential primary process is important for fundraising, media attention and political momentum that can often shape the rest of the race and can quickly elevate—or sink—a campaign. In the case of the Democrats, a first primary in South Carolina could give an advantage to candidates with strong ties to southern or Black voters. Both parties choose their early voting states based on what electorates they believe will test their candidates in a way that reflects the broader nation and predicts how its priorities will play with various demographics. Democrats say their early-state lineup is designed to test presidential candidates with a racially and geographically diverse coalition—including Black, Latino, union and Midwestern voters—that they think will reflect the voters needed to win a general election. Republicans have said the traditional sequence, starting with Iowa, gives lesser-known candidates a chance to build support through on-the-ground campaigning and face-to-face voter engagement before larger states vote.
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