Iowa Dems Set Caucus Candidates on Preference Cards
DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Democratic Party on Saturday voted to include three names on the 2024 presidential preference cards Iowans will use to cast their votes during the state’s Jan. 15 caucuses.
The names that will appear are those of President Joe Biden, Rep. Dean Phillips, of Minnesota, and author Marianne Williamson. Democrats will also have the option of selecting “uncommitted.”
This year, in a twist, all voter preference cards for the Democratic caucus will be submitted as mail-in ballots.
The Democratic National Committee stripped Iowa of its first-in-the-nation status in the party’s 2024 presidential nominating process in favor of South Carolina, and there has been almost no campaigning by Democrats in the state this year.
Vice President Kamala Harris has visited Iowa twice this year, but the president himself has not been to Iowa since 2022, and Phillips has been a no-show since launching his campaign in October.
Williamson participated in the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair last summer, as did Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has since bolted the Democratic Party and is now running for president as an independent.
In a statement released Saturday, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart said she plans to caucus for Biden.
“President Biden has done more in his first two years than some presidents have done in two terms, and I believe he will win our 2024 Iowa caucuses,” she said.
In order to have their name placed on the party’s preference card, candidates simply needed to submit a letter to Hart by Dec. 1. Biden, Phillips and Williamson were the only candidates to do so.
State party leaders said they opted for a mail-in caucus process to be more inclusive and make the event easier to participate in for Iowans who can’t physically show up at a caucus venue on the night of the vote.
Democrats in the state will still gather for caucuses on Jan. 15 to conduct party business and vote on a party platform, but the results of the presidential preference contest won’t be released until March 5, by agreement with the DNC.
March 5 is Super Tuesday.
Iowa Democrats can request the cards either online or by downloading, printing and mailing a request form to the Iowa Democratic Party’s headquarters in Des Moines.
They have until 5 p.m. Feb. 19 to request a preference card. Those cards will be mailed to participants beginning Jan. 12, 2024. They must be returned by March 5.
Meanwhile, Iowa Republicans will continue to caucus the way they always have, with registered Republicans turning out at 7 p.m. on Jan. 15 at precinct locations scattered across the state to cast their own presidential preferences in person.
Once at the venue, participants in the Republican caucus will be given blank sheets of paper on which they will write down the name of the candidate they wish to support.
The Republican Party of Iowa released the name and locations for precinct caucus sites on Friday.
CNN said Thursday it will host a debate Jan. 10, 2024, at Drake University in Des Moines, five days before the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses.
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue
