Jim Clyburn wants South Carolina to vote even earlier in 2024 -- here's why

One of the most powerful Democrats in South Carolina wants the state to play even a larger role in choosing the Democratic Party nominee in 2024.

"Fresh off a successful 2020 primary, some South Carolina Democrats are already eyeing the possibility of taking on an even more prominent role in future races," The Post and Courier reported Tuesday. "They point to the immediate impact of Joe Biden’s win in the state on the heated contested, the disastrous Iowa caucuses in which took weeks to declare a winner and longstanding complaints that the earliest states are too white."

The conventional wisdom is that Democrats have extremely slim chances of making South Carolina a competitive state in the general election.

"Early proponents of the idea include South Carolina’s longtime U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the third highest-ranking member of the U.S. House and highest-ranking African American elected official in the country, as well as multiple Democratic National Committee members from the state," The Post and Courier reported. "Clyburn’s preference is to pair off the four early states, holding New Hampshire and South Carolina’s primaries on the same day and Iowa and Nevada’s on another, thereby adding more diversity to each contest day."

“South Carolina should not only be first in the South, it should be first in the nation,” South Carolina DNC committeeman Clay Middleton told the newspaper.

Diversity was cited as justification for the move.

“Nevada and South Carolina are more indicative of the Democratic base across the country, so they should lead the way," said state Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter.

“It’s important to have a southern state in the mix and South Carolina has been a great indicator. We’ve talked a bunch about how we need to have more diversity in the early states, and I think you do need to have more diversity earlier," said Democratic strategist Scott Arcenaux.