WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is recommending the Democratic National Committee place Michigan among the earliest states to cast votes for the 2024 presidential nominating contest, according to U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell.
Biden, in a letter to DNC members late Thursday, urged them to eliminate caucuses as part of Democrats' nominating process to ensure voters of color have a stronger voice in choosing the nominee, and to welcome diversity "of our party and our nation — economically, geographically, demographically."
"Working class families are the backbone of our economy. Union households must be represented in greater numbers than before," Biden wrote. "We need to include voters from many backgrounds, not to ratify the choice of the earliest states, but as full stakeholders in making the choice."
Biden is proposing to replace Iowa as the first state in the nominating contests with South Carolina, followed by Nevada and New Hampshire, then Georgia and Michigan, Dingell, D-Mich., said.
"It's because we reflect the diversity of the country, and we cannot win the White House without the heartland," Dingell said. "No state should have a lock on going first, and the president is right that this primary calendar should be revisited every four years."
The president's advocacy for Michigan to have a larger voice in the presidential nominating process comes two days after the Republican-controlled state Senate voted to move the presidential primary from the second Tuesday in March to the second Tuesday in February. That bill now is before the House, which meets next week for its postelection lame duck sessions.
States that hold primaries early — such as Iowa and New Hampshire traditionally — are showered with campaign funds and national attention every election cycle as media, campaigns and political observers seek early indications on which way voters are leaning.
"It would be transformative," said U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.
Michigan being among the early primary states would contribute to new infrastructure and attention to the state's pressing issues, Slotkin said.
"It would be a huge deal," she said.
Michigan Democrats have been trying to get Biden to ordain Michigan as an early state in the 2024 presidential primary schedule. A DNC subcommittee will meet Friday and Saturday to vote on which five states will vote before Super Tuesday. Michigan was one of 16 states and Puerto Rico that pitched the DNC in June on giving them one of the coveted positions.
Dingell cautioned Thursday that the decision is not yet official, with the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee still to vote in the coming days. Then the full DNC would have to adopt that recommendation when it meets in February.
“It's anticipated several states will not be happy, and the February meeting is likely to be contentious," said Dingell, who led the push to move up Michigan's primary alongside Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan.
“But remember this was a fight that (the late Sen.) Carl Levin started 20 years ago," Dingell added.
Dingell and Stabenow have worked on moving Michigan's primary with Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II and Lavora Barnes, chairwoman of the Michigan Democratic Party.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, after meeting with Michigan lawmakers Thursday on Capitol Hill, said she did not have confirmation from the White House about moving up Michigan's primary.
"I've always said Michigan voices are really important and I think an opportunity to weigh in earlier makes a lot of sense for a multitude of reasons," Whitmer told the Detroit News.
U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., said he talked with Biden about making Michigan the first primary state on Tuesday aboard Air Force One during the president's trip to Bay City.
"I left that conversation feeling pretty upbeat," Kildee said Thursday.
The DNC announced in April it would reopen its presidential nominating process after Iowa's bungled 2020 Democratic caucuses gave additional oxygen to complaints that the Midwest state doesn't represent the party's racial or economic diversity.
A group of Michigan Democrats speaking before the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee in Washington this summer argued that the state's racial diversity, rural-urban split and economic sectors represent the swath of voters needed for Democrats to win the general election in 2024. They also argued that nearly every Democratic candidate who won Michigan's presidential primary over the last four decades has gone on to win.
Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Mich., and the delegation’s only African American, said Tuesday that Michigan should surely go before Iowa because of the greater diversity it offers.
“Iowa does not represent our country and our diversity,” she said. “Even the economics. Just think about — there's no manufacturing, right? There is no R&D.”
Republicans, too, have supported the bid to move up Michigan's primary date.
“Michigan should have a very significant say in electing the next Republican as the next President of the United States," Michigan Republican Party Chairman Ron Weiser said Thursday in a statement.
Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., said he would be in favor of the change, as long as the state wouldn't lose delegates to the Republican National Convention for voting on a different date than the Republican Party rules.
"I think it would be very exciting to be first in the country," Moolenaar said.
It's unclear whether the Republican National Committee would be willing to make a similar move.
Moving Michigan’s primary to February would violate RNC rules that bar primaries or caucuses before March 1 for states other than Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, said Royal Oak native Derek Muller, a law professor at the University of Iowa College of Law.
That can set up a sort of “game of chicken” that would force Michigan Republicans to make a decision about whether to do an early primary with the Democrats and risk being penalized by the RNC, which could reduce the number of delegates the state is allocated at the national convention, Muller said.
Alternatively, the MIGOP state committee could decide to hold a convention or caucus in March, which would make a GOP primary in February effectively a “beauty contest” with no formal effect, Muller said.
The question becomes what’s more important — having a full complement of delegates at the national convention or having a reduced number of delegates but being more influential, he said.
“Because usually people aren't counting delegates — they're looking at who won states at the very beginning. And that can be more influential, even if you're penalized,” Muller said.
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(Detroit News staff writer Craig Mauger contributed to this story.)
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