(Des Moines, IA) -- The Iowa Democratic Party is making a new push to put the state back in the start of the presidential nominating process.
Chair Ross Wilburn sent a letter to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Friday, saying the proposed schedule fails to give small rural states a voice. In December, the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee (RBC) recommended Iowa lose its first in the nation status, instead moving South Carolina into the early wave.
Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and New Hampshire will complete the first round of Democratic caucuses.
The letter comes after Georgia and New Hampshire missed a deadline to submit a letter to the committee, indicating state leaders were taking steps to change the date of their primary.
Wilburn wrote:
The Iowa Democratic Party believes that, with two states apparently unable to meet the criteria set forth as conditions of a waiver, within the timeline set forth by this committee, we have a compelling case to be granted a conditional waiver for a pre-window contest. As a state party run contest, we retain the ultimate ability to tailor our contest to RBC rules and specifications and maintain a flexibility that states with state-run contests cannot. To that end, we request consideration for a conditional waiver be considered at the February meeting of the RBC.
State law requires Iowa's parties to hold the caucus first in the nation.