NC Democrats want to host the first primary in 2028. There are big downsides | Opinion
Deputy Opinion Editor Paige Masten is covering the 2026 election for The Charlotte Observer and the Raleigh News & Observer.
North Carolina has officially applied to be one of the first states to hold the Democratic presidential primary in 2028 — a move the party hopes will bring even more attention to the state.
If the bid is successful, it could cement North Carolina as a state with national political significance. For years, the nation trained its eyes on the Iowa caucuses as a bellwether of candidate performance. A strong showing in Iowa helped candidates establish momentum, so presidential campaigns would launch robust operations across the state in hopes of becoming a frontrunner early on.
In 2024, Democrats adjusted their calendar to make South Carolina their first primary. But for 2028, the party is considering moving on again, and states like North Carolina, Nevada and Michigan are among those under consideration. While South Carolina is still meaningful for its large population of Black voters, some Democrats believe that a red state is perhaps not the greatest venue for testing Democratic performance, and would prefer the first primary be held in a battleground state where they have better chances of winning statewide general elections.
North Carolina and South Carolina might be neighbors, but they have enough political differences that could make North Carolina a more appealing option. North Carolina is far more competitive for Democrats in general elections, and it’s diverse and moderate enough to be informative. In particular, the state has a lot of Black voters and rural voters, two constituencies that are key to the party’s success nationwide.
There are multiple early spots up for grabs, as Democrats plan to include one state each from four regions in the early primaries before Super Tuesday. That’s the day when the greatest number of U.S. states hold their primary elections, often making or breaking presidential campaigns. In the past three presidential elections, North Carolina’s primary was held either on or after Super Tuesday. No candidate or campaign can be everywhere at once, so some Super Tuesday states can be overlooked. In 2016, when North Carolina’s primary occurred after Super Tuesday, some candidates who were listed on the ballot had already dropped out.
The states that ultimately land those early primary spots will capture a lot of attention and wield a lot of influence. The 2028 Democratic primary is expected to be a packed field, so early primaries will be significant in establishing the frontrunners for the party’s nomination. Like any significant event, it also can yield economic benefits, as it will draw visitors to the state. One of the reasons Iowa hoped to keep its spot after 2020 was because of the caucuses’ economic impact and advertising value. People need to staff those campaigns. That creates jobs.
But it may not be feasible. Currently, state law mandates that presidential primaries be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in March. But that’s not early enough to be the first Democratic primary in the country, so if Democrats want to kick off the primary season in North Carolina, they’ll have to change state law. That, of course, requires cooperation from Republicans in the General Assembly, which might not be easy.
It also would be logistically difficult. Currently, North Carolina holds primaries for most local, state and federal races on the same day as the presidential primary, which means voters only have to cast their ballot once in order to vote for all of them. If Republicans did agree to change the law, they would have a few different options: move all of the state’s primary elections to an earlier date; move only the presidential primaries for both parties to an earlier date; move only the Democratic presidential primary to an earlier date, separating it from every other primary; or hold the Democratic and Republican primaries for every office on separate days.
As Western Carolina University professor Chris Cooper pointed out in a recent blog post, pretty much every one of those options is simply not worth it for reasons of practicality, cost or overall simplicity. Spreading North Carolina’s primaries across multiple days would be confusing or burdensome for voters, particularly those who are unaffiliated. It would also be more expensive to hold an election twice, and more difficult for election officials to administer. Shifting all primaries to the same date earlier in the cycle would be less confusing and less expensive, but it would make what feels like an eternally long election cycle even longer. Does anyone really want to be thinking about their absentee ballots at Christmas?
North Carolina is one of the most fascinating and elusive battleground states, and Democrats can make a strong case to the national party as to why it’s worthy of an early primary spot. The bigger task, though, may be convincing people back home why it’s worth it.
