Sharpton: Democrats should keep South Carolina as first 2028 primary

Campaign Sharpton: Democrats should keep South Carolina as first 2028 primary Comments: by Tara Suter - 07/22/26 3:33 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Tara Suter - 07/22/26 3:33 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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Civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton on Wednesday pushed for South Carolina to remain the first Democratic primary in the 2028 presidential election.

In a Wednesday press release from the South Carolina Democratic Primary, Sharpton said that “Black voters have shown up for the Democratic Party again and again.”

“South Carolina hasn’t just cast votes in the presidential primary, time after time; it decided the nomination, and ultimately the presidency,” Sharpton added in his statement. “If South Carolina gets quietly bumped after one cycle of convenient praise, that sends a message louder than any speech at a Democratic dinner: the gratitude was performance, not policy.”

According to Census data, Black people make up around 25 percent of the South Carolina’s population, nearly double the U.S.’s overall Black population percentage of around 12 percent.

This week, members of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) are set to meet in Washington, D.C. to vote on the states which could be some of the first to vote in the 2028 Democratic primary.

On Thursday and Friday, DNC rules and bylaws committee members are meeting at the Salamander Hotel to recommend the states that should “receive waivers to hold early nominating contests,” a source in the party told The Hill.

The committee’s recommendation would then be put to a vote in front of the full DNC meeting in Austin, Texas in August, per the source.

Nevada and South Carolina are included in the leading contenders to cast first-in-the-nation votes, according to the source.

In 2023, the DNC rubber-stamped an adjusted early presidential primary state schedule, with South Carolina leading the pack for the upcoming election.

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