It’s a tacit acknowledgment of the essential role African American voters play within the Democratic Party as much as it is a nod to recent primary election results. With the racially diverse Obama coalition increasingly viewed as the key to the party’s future, the two early states that have historically overshadowed South Carolina — Iowa and New Hampshire — are suddenly looking outmoded to many Democrats.
“The primary process in selecting a candidate will now not be determined by the Iowas and New Hampshires,” said former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who ran for president in 2008. “It will be a long, drawn out affair, and the first big test will be South Carolina to see who is strongest among the party’s base, the African American base of the Democratic Party.”
The floodgates are poised to open within weeks. In early jockeying ahead of the 2020 primary, Joe Biden, Deval Patrick and Eric Holder are all expected to travel to South Carolina before November’s midterm elections. Kamala Harris is likely to visit. Eric Garcetti is scheduled to return to the state in late September, and Terry McAuliffe is hosting a fundraiser in Washington for James Smith, South Carolina’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee.
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