Name: Should North Carolina hold the first 2028 presidential primary?
Uploaded: 2025-12-11T00:34:09.970Z
Duration: 4 min 59 s
Description: New Hampshire and Iowa have famously started the presidential primaries in years past, but a new bipartisan op-ed calls for North Carolina to kick off voting in the 2028 election. The authors, former Biden senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates and former RNC communications director Douglas Heye, join to make the case for the Tar Heel State.

New Hampshire and Iowa have famously started the presidential primaries in years past, but a new bipartisan op-ed calls for North Carolina to kick off voting in the 2028 election. The authors, former Biden senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates and former RNC communications director Douglas Heye, join to make the case for the Tar Heel State.

North Carolina

A discussion has emerged about the possibility of North Carolina hosting the first Democratic presidential primary in 2028. Political commentators Doug High and Andrew Bates highlighted the state's status as a fast-growing, diverse, and competitive battleground, noting its significance in both presidential and statewide races.

The conversation also compared North Carolina to other contenders like South Carolina and Michigan, emphasizing the state's regional representation, demographic diversity, and economic benefits from hosting early primaries. Both analysts agreed that North Carolina's unique attributes make it a strong candidate to lead the primary calendar for both parties.

Should North Carolina hold the first 2028 presidential primary?

Welcome back to Takeout. Ask any presidential nominee, they will tell you the primary calendar matters. What state goes first? There's a conversation going on that my two guests have started. Small, maybe it grows, I don't know. North Carolina, front of the line for the Democrats in 2028. Doug High, Andrew Bates, good to be with you. Always great to be here. Why North Carolina, Doug? I'll let, do you want me to go first? I was gonna say, since we're talking about Democrats. Look, Iran comes for the Iowa caucus. Republican, Democrat, yes. As you know, Iran comes for the 2012 Iowa caucus. I love the Iowa caucus, however, the Democrats have put their schedule in flux, they've moved states back and forth, and this to me makes sense for a lot of reasons. One, fast-growing, changing state, a spread out state. Not a huge state, per se, it's large, but not California or Texas big, but spread out. And ultimately, it comes down to it is a battleground state, not just every four years for president, but it's a battleground in our gubernatorial races, our Senate races, and on down the line. I wanted Doug to start off, Andrew, because that's sort of a contrarian start for a Democratic conversation that you're trying to start, that has more possibility on the Democratic side, smaller than what might be, than the Republican side. But a Democrat might reasonably say, Andrew, wait a minute, Trump won it three times, why would we go there first? Well, I think by the same token, you could make the argument that we have a lot of outreach to do, and we have to make sure that at the very start of our process, we're hearing from people in the kind of battleground state that represents the kinds of people we need to make sure we're winning back. And North Carolina has been close, as Doug mentioned, not just in every recent presidential election, but also this year's Senate race is going to be one of the most watched. And one of the most expensive, if not the most expensive. That's correct. Texas will probably give it a run for its money. Yeah. So the point is, from a Democratic perspective, go to where you're going to need to win the general and start there. Why not? Exactly. Doug? Yeah, no, I agree completely. And, you know, we have a Democratic governor, and he's replaced a Democratic governor in North Carolina. So it's a state that goes back and forth quite often. And when Obama won it, it was the second closest state in the country. When he lost it, it was the second closest state in the country. Trump won it. His biggest margin was 3.7. If you go to South Carolina, he did a lot better than that. Speaking of South Carolina, that's what it was in 2020. Well, no, it wasn't—it was fourth in 2020, first in 2024. Why is North Carolina better than South Carolina? I have a lot of affection for South Carolina, having been on the Biden campaign in 2020. North Carolina doesn't have Jim Clyburn, I think is the short answer to that. And my mom's family is from there. But North Carolina is a battleground state. And South Carolina just isn't. I would love for South Carolina to become one, but the truth is that North Carolina is more competitive, and it is a more diverse state in terms of its makeup, in terms of the way that you deal with a midsize city like—a midsize city like Fayetteville or big places like Charlotte, Raleigh. In order to win in North Carolina, you hone the same kinds of abilities that you need to win elsewhere. You've made this argument, and you're getting it started. Michigan's been making this argument for quite some time. Now, of course, New Hampshire has a law that says it's supposed to go first. That's always contested. They're going to make a very strong push for this. Michigan has been making a push for a very long time to be very close, if not first. Why not Michigan? Why is North Carolina better than Michigan? Well, the DNC has rules that ensure different regions get represented, so this wouldn't be to the exclusion of Michigan, necessarily. We're talking about how North Carolina would be a good state to include for the South. We do think it should go first. And something that I think a lot of Democrats should appreciate is that the South is by far the biggest region in terms of population. It's about one in three Americans. We were looking this up when we were writing out this. And certainly population growth. Yes. In migration. And North Carolina epitomizes that. It's been one of the fastest-growing states for decades. Should Republicans think about this in ways that they currently aren't, Doug? I'd encourage them to, but even if they don't, I think it still benefits Republicans, because, as you know, there's a disparate amount of campaign aides that come from Iowa and New Hampshire. As a Republican, let's grow that talent pool in North Carolina. Republican talent pool, Democratic talent pool as well, so that we can have all those boats rise and help North Carolina not only in its economy—by the way, that's a lot of jobs that come in. It's a lot of pizzas ordered, water bottles, hotel rooms, flights, rental cars, all of that. It's an economic driver, but also lifts the state's prestige. And look, North Carolina beat Michigan in 1993 in the NCAA Finals. I was a student at Chapel Hill there. Michigan's a fine state, but it doesn't have the diversity that North Carolina has. Huge native population, huge military population, 11 HBCUs throughout the state, and its growth. Doug Heye, Andrew Bates, it's been a pleasure. Well, thank you. We'll see where this goes. We hope to get it started. Tobacco Road. Remember that.

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