Nevada has moved one step closer to hosting the first Democratic presidential primary of 2028.

At a Saturday meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico, for a subset of Democratic National Committee (DNC) members who will decide which states can vote early and in what order, the Silver State easily advanced. 

That wasn’t unique; all 12 states that submitted applications to hold primaries or caucuses before Super Tuesday moved forward. Nonetheless, the weekend brought several positive signs for Nevada.

“It is a largely Latino population in this state and this is a group, a demographic that we also need to pay a lot of attention in this cycle, so, not to tip the scale, but I think this is an important factor that we should really elevate,” Melissa López Franzen, a DNC member from Minnesota, said in the Puerto Rico meeting, emphasizing one of Nevada’s key selling points.

Since 2008, Nevada has been one of the first states to hold a nominating process for Republican and Democratic presidential candidates — a position that has brought a flood of campaign activity to the state and prompted major candidates to rally supporters everywhere from Las Vegas to Elko.

But Nevada Democrats, who voted third in 2024, don’t just want to vote early; they want to vote first. Other traditional early states — New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina — will also likely try to muscle their way to the front of the line, especially after former President Joe Biden upended the DNC’s historic nominating order in 2024. Other diverse battlegrounds, such as North Carolina and Michigan, could pose competition as well.

Democrats will eventually pick one state from each of four regions to vote early, as well as a fifth early state if they are so inclined. In the West, Nevada’s only competition is New Mexico, which is more reliably Democratic. 

On Friday, CBS News reported that the political group Latino Victory has backed Nevada’s push to hold the very first contest. At the DNC meeting, state Democratic Party chair Assm. Daniele Monroe-Moreno (D-North Las Vegas) and Nevada DNC member Artie Blanco, who sit on the panel that will choose the early states, distributed documents highlighting that endorsement, as well as support from the Latino voter group Somos Votantes, the Asian American and Pacific Islander voter group AAPI Victory, and the hospitality-centered union UNITE HERE to bump Nevada to the front of the line. 

Nevada’s proposal highlights its many strengths, including its racial diversity, sizable working-class population, accessible media markets and battleground status. Throughout the DNC meeting and in conversations with The Nevada Independent, these were among the top qualities committee members said they valued. 

“I find myself drawn to diverse and purple states, and of the states that have applied, Nevada is definitely one of the ones to meet those criteria,” Andre Treiber, a new committee member from Texas, told The Nevada Independent.

Thousands of miles away, at a Nevada Democratic Party rally in Las Vegas on Sunday, Monroe-Moreno sounded optimistic about Nevada’s shot at the first pick. 

“I think there’s a strong chance,” she said, adding that national officials were aware of Nevada’s importance. “They know that if they win Nevada, there’s a good chance of knowing if you’re going to win in November.” 

Political operatives, elected officials such as Attorney General Aaron Ford (D), Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D), as well as regular voters, attended the Sunday event alongside her. The rally, held in a converted industrial warehouse somewhere between downtown Las Vegas and the Strip, was hosted by Monroe-Moreno and others. 

Local leaders at the rally — including Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) — spoke about the importance of Nevada voting first. Horsford told the crowd that Democrats were “fighting for Nevada to be first in the nation,” in part because the “path to win the House runs straight through Nevada.” 

Democrats won the state’s three competitive House races and its battleground Senate race in 2024, even as they lost at the top of the ticket. If there’s anyone who doesn’t know how much Nevada matters, state Democrats are spelling it out for them. 

“We’re in a position where we are reckoning with the losses from 2024 in which swing Latino voters went toward Trump across the country,” Nevada Democratic Party spokesperson Molly Forgey said in an interview with The Nevada Independent. “There’s a reason, in Nevada, Democrats down the ballot were able to pull off victories, and it’s because we know how to win these voters. And I think a presidential candidate who begins the work early here in a state like Nevada can win those voters back.”

Early visits

There’s another sign Nevada could be particularly important in 2028: the list of possible presidential contenders already visiting. The last time Democrats boasted a crowded field ahead of 2020, The Nevada Independent tracked visits from only one possible hopeful by this point in the election cycle.

This time around, candidates are showing face more often. Gallego and Pritzker are both out-of-state electeds rumored to be considering presidential bids. 

Gallego, who, as chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ campaign arm in 2022 advocated for Nevada to vote first, declined to say Saturday if Nevada should be first to vote in 2028, but did say the state should be among the first. 

“It’s a great representation of the Democratic base and the country,” Gallego told The Nevada Independent. “I can’t say it should be ‘the’ the one, but it has to be up in the contention. People still do retail politics here, and I think you know — where the Southwest goes, the nation goes.” 

Earlier in the week at a meeting of the East Las Vegas Democratic Club, possible presidential candidate Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said it was up to the DNC whether Nevada should vote first — but he did tell The Nevada Independent the state should be first in the West, as it has been in the past. 

“It’s a microcosm for America,” Khanna said. “I certainly think, in the West, it makes sense. Right now, the decision is them or New Mexico, and I think it has all of the diversity — economically, demographically and in terms of occupations — that would make it a very, very important state.” 

At the Nevada Democratic Party event over the weekend, that sentiment rang true — at least superficially — with a mix of attendees of different ages and races, wearing everything from sweatsuits to dress suits, blue jeans to sleek skirts.

But if the politicians were testing the waters with this crowd, they wouldn’t acknowledge it. When asked if he was running for president, Gallego declined to answer, saying that his team had been traveling the country to “get out the Democratic vote” and “stop the craziness.” After that, he said he would evaluate what happens next. 

On why Pritzker and Gallego were in Nevada, Monroe-Moreno said the state has an important role on the national stage. 

“We truly punch above our weight class in Nevada,” she said. “Elected officials nationwide know that.” 

What’s next

DNC members are feeling the weight of just how influential the early primary calendar might be, especially after a bruising loss in 2024.   

“Making the decisions of what states go first in the primary has an outsized influence on public policy; it can literally affect who is the next president,” Treiber said. “The first state just plays so much of an influence on being the major gatekeeper.” 

They’re not expecting to rest on tradition. 

“I don’t think anybody is entitled to it,” Susan Swecker, a committee member from Virginia who couldn’t make it to the Puerto Rico meeting, told The Nevada Independent. “You have to earn it. I don't think you should just get it because you’ve had it before."

For now, she said she would only consider winnowing the field based on practical considerations around whether each state party could make an early contest happen. 

“Who would I eliminate?” Swecker said. “It gets back to, ‘Look, you made a great proposal, but if you can’t get the cooperation you need to get the date changed, that’s more of a question there.’”

Luckily for Nevada, that shouldn’t be a problem. By state law, Nevada’s 2028 presidential primary will be held on Feb. 1 for both parties, and the committee could simply choose to open the early window that day. 

Still, it will be some time before DNC members make a decision — or even narrow down their choices. States are expected to present their arguments to committee members sometime in the spring. 

“Like other states, Nevada will have every opportunity to make its case,” Donna Brazile, a veteran Democratic strategist who is one of the committee’s most influential members, wrote in an email to The Nevada Independent. “But I see this as an opportunity to help rebuild, rebrand and reestablish trust.” 

Reporter Isabella Aldrete contributed to this story.