McDaniel slams Democrats for playing ‘shenanigans’ with 2024 calendar shift

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel criticized Democrats for their 2024 primary calendar shift, accusing them of trying to “play shenanigans in Iowa.”

The Democratic National Committee approved a new primary calendar in February, delivering a major blow to both Iowa and New Hampshire. The party scheduled South Carolina to be first on Feb. 3, 2024, followed by Nevada and New Hampshire three days later, in a move pushed through by President Joe Biden.

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“Democrats are trying to play shenanigans in Iowa, and I don’t think New Hampshire should fall for that, and I hope they don’t allow Democrats to mess with our primary process and our calendar, especially when they walked away from those two states and so did Joe Biden, by the way, we’ll see how it works out,” McDaniel said on Fox News Sunday.

The RNC has been grappling with New Hampshire after the state refused to comply with the committee’s rules, threatening to cut one of the party’s presidential debates this week. Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH) pushed back against McDaniel’s calendar, telling Fox News, “We will not be threatened, we will follow our law, and we WILL go first. End of story.”

“Listen, I think Chris [Sununu] and I are on the same page on this, and I think New Hampshire and Iowa should recognize the RNC, the Republican Party actually through our, through our members, we supported Iowa having the first in the nation caucus and New Hampshire having the first in the nation primary,” McDaniel said.

“It’s the Democrats that just walked away from those two states, not us,” McDaniel added.

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New Hampshire officials argue that state law requires the state’s primary to be set at least a week before any other nominating contest, which is why Republicans and Democrats are refusing to comply with their respective committee rules.

The national GOP retained Iowa’s first in the nation for the party status, scheduling its caucuses on Jan. 15, 2024, followed by New Hampshire. A 2021 state law requires Iowa’s parties to hold their caucuses before any other presidential nominating contest in the country, creating confusion between committees and parties.