Ken Burns urges Democrats to take back the New Hampshire primary
Burns is urging Democrats to recapture his home state of New Hampshire as a primary race in the primary. Democratic National Committee(DNC) 2028 Presidential Nomination Calendar.
New Hampshire has held both Democratic and Republican presidential primaries for a century, and while the GOP stuck to tradition in the final race for the White House, the Democratic National Committee flipped its calendar, putting South Carolina ahead of the Granite State.
The move served as an unwanted distraction for Democrats during the 2024 primaries, and the Democratic Party has now begun discussing which states will lead up to its 2028 calendar, when the party aims to reclaim the White House in the race to succeed the term-limited Republican president. Donald Trump.
The race for the White House is on: With 2026 looming, both parties are already playing for 2028
Ken Burns speaks on stage during the PBS New York premiere of “The American Revolution” on September 18, 2025 in New York City. (Michael Lucisano/Getty Images)
Burns, who lives in the Little Southwest New Hampshire The Town of Walpole wrote in a letter to the Democratic Party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, which oversees the party’s primary calendar, on the eve of that committee meeting in Puerto Rico to begin considering applications from New Hampshire and nearly a dozen states to hold early primaries in 2028.
“I write to you today as a citizen who witnessed firsthand how New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary helped move our democracy forward, and a historic filmmaker who, in this particularly difficult moment, is concerned for the future of our country and believes that New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation, citizen-led primary remains indispensable in this moment,” Burns wrote in the letter obtained by Fox News Digital.
And in the letter that he published for the first time WMUR-TV In New Hampshire, Burns asserted, “I know of no one better suited to help begin the journey to preserve true freedom, to rekindle that sacred fire, than the people of the Live Free or Die State. That is why we need the leadership of the citizens of New Hampshire, first in the nation’s primaries, where ordinary people can be heard. For in the power of ordinary citizens, there is no better or equal hope in our world.”
A sign noting New Hampshire’s century-old traditional role in holding the nation’s first presidential primary is across the street from the state Capitol, in Concord, New Hampshire (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
“Ken Burns is a beloved and internationally respected storyteller in America. Ken is reliable, knows his stuff, and speaks with such clarity and authority that he makes people sit up and listen,” longtime New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley, who sits on the Democratic Party’s Rules and Regulations Committee and is attending the meeting in Puerto Rico, told Fox News Digital.
Buckley predicted that “Kane will make a strong statement in support of the New Hampshire presidential primary that will resonate with my colleagues.”
2028 Looms: Harris, Newsom, Pritker Meet at High-Stakes Democratic Summit
National Democrats have shot down both for years Iowa – which caucuses For 50 years, the party’s nominating calendar has been delayed until 2024 — and New Hampshire does not represent the party as a whole because the states have large white populations with few major urban areas. Nevada and South Carolina, which in recent cycles voted third and fourth on the calendar, are far more diverse than Iowa or New Hampshire. Nevada and South Carolina were added to the Democratic calendar two decades ago to increase voter diversity in early states.
The Democratic National Committee is expected to make a decision on the order of the 2028 presidential nominating calendar later this year. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
But New Hampshire Democrats have long opposed that, saying the state’s rich tradition of grassroots politics, retail politics, informed voters, high voter turnout and its longstanding status as a key swing state in general elections make it the ideal place to hold the nation’s first primary.
After the Democratic National Committee removed New Hampshire from the top of its 2024 calendar, placing the state second behind Nevada, the Granite State remains at the top. In keeping with a nearly half-century-old law that requires the Granite State to hold its first presidential primary a week before any similar contest, New Hampshire Secretary of State Dave Scanlan has set the Democratic and Republican presidential primaries for January 23, 2024.
The Democratic contest, which ran ahead of South Carolina and Nevada, ended up being an unsanctioned election, as the Democratic National Council banned the state’s delegates from attending the nominating convention that summer. Later, the Democratic National Committee made peace with New Hampshire, returning its delegates to the convention.
Click here to download the FOX NEWS app
The Rules and Regulations Committee is not expected to make a decision on the 2028 calendar until later this year.
The rival Republican National Committee, as first reported by Fox News Digital last week, at its winter meeting took the first official step in keeping the 2028 GOP calendar intact, with the Iowa caucuses starting the nominating process followed by the New Hampshire primary.
Post Comment