A little more than three years ago, I wrote a column entitled, “The white privilege Democratic primary.” The premise was simple: The Democratic primary schedule and infrastructure propped up a system that prioritized the preferences of white voters.
Anyone who has been to Iowa, let alone to the caucus, knows my thesis holds water. Throw in a trip to New Hampshire and my insight was bordering on too obvious. And yet, for decades, Democrats — even those purportedly focused on elevating underserved voices and voters — continued to support the status quo.
Change isn’t easy. Bucking tradition is even harder. Frankly, if the Iowa Democratic Party hadn’t bungled the 2020 caucus to such an enormous degree, would we be considering a fulsome change so seriously? Probably not.
But here we are. And it’s a good thing that we are because in politics, it’s common practice to pay lip service to a particular group to get their support and then, once elected, go back to “business as usual.” That isn’t to say that intentions aren’t well meaning, but politicking is complex business and there are a lot of stakeholders that go into each electoral and policy win.
President Biden’s proposed changes to the Democratic primary schedule represents something that’s too often missing in politics: keeping promises.
Biden’s campaign was all about raising up underserved voices in our party. Making sure that Black voters, the most reliable voting bloc, are given their due. That young people are animated because of a nominee who takes issues such as climate change and criminal justice reform seriously. And that Democrats can win back white, working-class and Midwestern voters who have turned to the GOP because of an overwhelmingly coastal Democratic message.
Much hay has been made of the shift from predominantly white Iowa to predominantly Black South Carolina as the site for the first nominating contest. Predictably, the Bernie Sanders camp is angry about the change. In a New York Times op-ed, the Vermont senator’s former campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, wrote, “The change would be comical if it weren’t tragic.” His rationale — which many prominent Black politicians. such as Democratic National Committee Chair Jamie Harrison, have rejected — is that South Carolina shouldn’t go first because it isn’t a battleground state.
Whether you agree with that rationale or not, or even believe it, versus the idea that Shakir’s true goal is for progressives with a focus on white, working-class voters have the best chance at winning the nomination, it’s high time that Black voters are treated with more respect in the nominating process. How many times have we heard from prominent Democratic politicians, such as former DNC Chair Tom Perez, that Black women are the backbone of the Democratic party, without any formal recognition of the role that they serve?
It was time.
And it’s not just Black voters who stand to benefit from Biden’s proposed changes to the schedule. Three other crucial blocs will play seminal roles in selecting the next Democratic nominee: GenZs, Latinos and heartland voters.
Every cycle, Democrats worry about what the youth turnout is going to look like. After Barack Obama’s historic win in 2008, when turnout shattered all records, including among 18-29 year-olds, Democrats fret, especially with surveys showing that only 21 percent of young voters approve of Biden just a few months before the midterms. But the fretting was for naught. Youth turnout surged and Democrats won the group by 30 points, a 2-point increase from just two years ago in a presidential election cycle. Fueled in states such as Michigan by the chance to vote on putting the right to an abortion in the state constitution, and the opportunity to keep Georgia’s Raphael Warnock in the Senate, young people were decisive for Democrats. As a result, moving states such as Michigan and Georgia up in the schedule is a well-earned reward for states that have been pivotal in keeping the White House and the Senate in Democratic hands.
I’ll admit that I thought Latina Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto was going to lose her seat in November. Adam Laxalt seemed to be running a good race and although he called the 2020 results “rigged,” he wasn’t as “out there” as Kari Lake in Arizona or Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania. Plus, there has been major concern — and rightfully so — about Democrats losing ground with Latino voters since the 2016 election. Sentiments like “The party doesn’t care about us; they pretend to care every two years,” as one former Latina Democratic voter told Tim Alberta, are pervasive. And the GOP did better with Latinos than ever before in both 2018 and 2020. But Latinos didn’t let Democrats down in 2022 nationally — and especially in Nevada. Latinos supported Democrats 2-1 in House and Senate elections and organized labor in Nevada, especially the Culinary Union, put her over the line. Giving back to Latino voters who saved the Democratic majority seems like a no-brainer.
Biden’s Scranton vs. Park Avenue appeal in 2020 was crucial in winning Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. “Middle Class Joe” was a direct response to Democratic pols who, as Wisconsin pollster Paul Maslin put it, “have just said ‘screw the white, working class; they don’t matter anymore and we can’t get them because they’re all racist.” In the 2022 midterms, Democrats took control of Michigan’s state House and the Senate, in a historic shift. And Gov. Gretchen Whitmer outperformed expectations — and then some. Giving Michigan a bigger priority role in the schedule is a logical extension of the kind of working-class campaign Biden ran, as well as the way that Michiganders have supported the Democratic Party.
There’s a lot to say about Joe Biden and the type of president he turned out to be. As former House Speaker Newt Gingrich wrote recently, the GOP has to “quit underestimating President Biden.” That’s certainly true. And part of the reason that Biden has been so successful is that he has done what he said he would do.
He is passing bipartisan legislation, he’s “building back” the economy, and he’s giving many who have been ignored a bigger role in our politics. That’s what this new primary schedule is all about — and I couldn’t be more supportive.
Jessica Tarlov is head of research at Bustle Digital Group and a Fox News contributor. She earned her Ph.D. at the London School of Economics in political science. Follow her on Twitter @JessicaTarlov.