Todd: DNC Primary Schedule Designed to Disadvantage Progressive Challengers in 2028

Chuck Todd, the former NBC News anchor, contended Monday that the Democratic National Committee’s newly approved primary schedule appears strategically designed to impede a progressive challenger from securing the party’s 2028 presidential nomination. Speaking on his podcast “The Chuck ToddCast,” Todd analyzed the sequence of early voting states and characterized it as deliberately unfavorable to left-wing insurgent candidates, whether by explicit intention or inevitable consequence.

The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee voted Friday to establish South Carolina as the nation’s first primary, followed by Nevada, New Hampshire, Michigan, Virginia, and New Mexico before the broader field of states votes. Todd argued that this ordering—beginning with South Carolina and concluding with Virginia—targets regions without substantial progressive voting bases, making it harder for such candidates to gain traction early in the race.

Todd suggested that including Wisconsin or Iowa in the early primary window would have been more accommodating to progressive campaigns. He noted that under the current calendar, a progressive contender receiving 20 percent of the vote—historically the range achieved by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in 2016 and 2020—could finish second in South Carolina despite what would normally be an uncompetitive showing.

Progressives have already voiced frustration with the calendar decision. An anonymous Rules and Bylaws Committee member told Axios on Sunday that the public is “swinging left” while “the establishment is trying to fight the winds of change,” suggesting South Carolina’s placement could eliminate a progressive candidate prematurely and represents “not a strategy for winning the electorate.”

Christale Spain, chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party who previously worked for Sanders’ 2016 campaign, pushed back against the narrative that progressives cannot win in the South. Spain told Axios that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could “absolutely” win in South Carolina and emphasized that winning the region requires sustained grassroots organizing rather than assumptions about ideological incompatibility.

Todd observed that Virginia, positioned as the final early primary state, could serve as “the last stand for the establishment to stop a progressive if indeed a progressive has the momentum.” He acknowledged that in a crowded field with multiple moderate candidates fragmenting the center vote, a consolidated progressive could benefit from winning even a modest plurality of delegates.

New Hampshire Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley issued a statement Friday criticizing the calendar’s rejection of his state’s traditional role. Buckley warned that the decision moves the party away from its core objective of winning general elections and reflects that “many party insiders have learned nothing from 2024.”