Iowa Democrats look to leverage midterm wins to restore first-in-the-nation caucus

Fresh off sweeping midterm victories, Iowa Democrats are pressing the Democratic National Committee to restore the state’s coveted first-in-the-nation position on the party’s presidential nominating calendar in 2028.“I call upon the DNC to take a hard look at their calendar and restore Iowa to [the] early-vote window,” former elected Iowa Democrat Charlie Comfort told the Washington Examiner. “The DNC should think long and hard about what ceding the state to Republicans for the Iowa caucus will do after the historic gains we had in the great state of Iowa last night.”In August, the DNC decided to demote Iowa from the No. 1 position after more than half a century, replacing it with South Carolina. The current Democratic primary calendar has the Palmetto state holding its primary on Jan. 22, 2028, followed by Nevada on Feb. 1, New Hampshire on Feb. 8, New Mexico on Feb. 15, Michigan on Feb. 22, and Virginia on Feb. 29. The decision was made, in part, in response to concerns that Iowa was too white for Democrats, considering the importance of minority voters to the party’s coalition.At the time, a second former elected Iowa Democrat told the Washington Examiner the “strength and viability” of any attempt to have Iowa “fight back” against the DNC’s calendar “coronation” would be determined by the midterm elections.“If you see IA-01, IA-02, and IA-03 go blue as they did in 2018, as well as the flipping of the open governor and U.S. Senate seats, you’re going to have a renewed vigor for telling the DNC to f*** off,” the source said. “If all those races stay red? It’s the nail in the coffin.”To that end, Democrats Rep. Josh Turek (D-IA) and Rob Sand won their Senate and gubernatorial races in Iowa on Tuesday, respectively, as did Christina Bohannan in the state’s 1st Congressional District, Lindsay James in the 2nd district, and Sarah Trone Garriott in the 3rd.TRUMPWORLD SEARCHES FOR SCAPEGOATS AFTER BLUE WAVE WIPEOUTSimultaneously, Democrats outperformed Republicans in other early-voting states, including South Carolina, which elected Annie Andrews as its first Democratic senator since 2005.Democrats will sweep back into power in both the Senate and the House on Jan. 3, winning decisive majorities in both chambers, despite races in the likes of Alaska and Mississippi remaining too close to call.