DNC Caucus Chairs Commend Rules & Bylaws Committee Vote

DNC Black Caucus Chair Virgie Rollins, Hispanic Caucus Chair Alvaro Cifuentes, Asian Pacific Islander American Caucus Chair Bel Leong-Hong, Native American Coodinating Council Chair Frank LaMere, and GLBT Caucus Chair Rick Stafford issued the following joint statement commending the vote by the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee to add two states to the presidential primary calendar pre-window period to join Iowa and New Hampshire. Nevada will hold a caucus and South Carolina will hold a primary in the pre-window period. The committee preserved the historic roles of Iowa and New Hampshire, with Iowa remaining the first caucus in the pre-window period and New Hampshire remaining the first primary:

"Last week's decision by the DNC's Rules and Bylaws committee to include Nevada and South Carolina in the pre-window primary period is a positive development. Broadening the primary window to include these two states is in line with the DNC's goals of adding racial, regional and economic diversity to the selection process of the Democratic presidential nominee.

"As Chairs of the DNC's Black, Hispanic, Asian Pacific Islander American, Native American, and GLBT caucuses we believe that the Democratic Party's strength is its history of rich diversity and inclusiveness and we are enthusiastic that these aspects of the party will now be included in the presidential nominating process. As pointed out by yesterday's Baltimore Sun editorial, Nevada's battleground status, its large and growing APIA population and its Latino and Native American populations in addition to South Carolina's large African-American population will help make the nominating process more reflective of our Party, in addition to reflecting the growing trends of the nation.

"We commend the work of the DNC Rules and Bylaws committee in achieving this goal while leaving intact the traditional roles of New Hampshire and Iowa. We are confident that this decision will strengthen the presidential nominating process and work to ensure the DNC's most important goal of producing the strongest nominee who reflects the values and the diversity of our Party and our country."

The committee also voted to hold the Iowa caucus on January 14th, the Nevada caucus thereafter, the New Hampshire primary on January 22nd, and the South Carolina primary no earlier than January 29th. The window officially opens on February 5th.