The 2028 South Carolina Democratic Primary

Lost amidst all the noise of current events is the fact that the democratic socialists have set their first presidential primary for 2028 in the state of South Carolina. That state has leapfrogged Iowa and New Hampshire.

Why would they do this?

Recall that Congressman Jim Clyburn– the long-time black representative– threw his endorsement to Joe Biden there during the 2020 campaign season. He represents much of the eastern part of the state. Establishment Republicans in Columbia refused to redistrict in such a manner that he would no longer have a seat; and his influence remains.

An article by Daniel McCarthy at Chronicles explains the situation:

Don’t believe the Democratic National Committee’s official storyline—the DNC’s decision to make South Carolina the first Democratic presidential primary in 2028 isn’t about introducing more racial diversity into the early contests. It’s actually about keeping power in the hands of the party establishment, the people who backed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020, and who are likely to wind up supporting Kamala Harris in 2028.

The fix is in.

South Carolina was the establishment’s firewall against Bernie Sanders’ left-wing insurgency twice over. In 2016, Sanders nearly beat Hillary Clinton in the first caucus, in Iowa, and went on to defeat her in the New Hampshire primary. Four years later, there was a brief moment when Sanders looked like the frontrunner—until he got clobbered by Joe Biden in South Carolina.

It’s true that the black voters who make South Carolina’s primaries more racially diverse than the contests in Iowa or New Hampshire are also less politically radical, so it’s easy for the DNC to say it’s not trying to choke off support for the socialist wing of the party, it’s just giving black voters more of a say.

The Democratic Socialists of America, the left fringe of the party, is disproportionately white—even its New York City chapter is 60 percent white, according to DSA’s own membership polling.

That’s astonishing considering NYC itself is only 34 percent white.

This racial split between the Democrats’ most ideologically intense faction and the party’s elite, which only holds onto power thanks to black voters’ loyalty, is a fault line with the potential to reshape American politics.

South Carolina doesn’t just lean toward establishment Democrats, it backs them overwhelmingly…

Despite backing a string of losers—Hillary Clinton a decade ago, Biden and Harris both in the last election—the Democratic establishment thinks it’s hit upon a strategy both for keeping control of the party and wresting the South away from Republicans.

And it’s confident the DSA will fall in line. After all, the elite Democrats are more allergic to the socialist label than they are to socialistic policies. They can give DSA much of what it wants, while DSA is just as devoted to identity politics as the establishment is.

We need to put this in perspective. They are all socialists– Democrats, DSA, Republicans, the whole lot. They mainly differ with regard to how rapidly they adopt socialist policies.

But for the time being, the Democratic establishment is using South Carolina to keep their hold on power and to maintain electability. And Jim Clyburn is their kingpin there who the state’s Republicans kept in place.