Nevada Republican Party Announces Date for 2024 Presidential Caucuses
On Monday, the Nevada Republican Party revealed that its 2024 presidential caucuses will be held on February 8. This announcement makes Nevada the third Republican presidential nominating contest, following the Iowa caucuses on January 15 and the yet-to-be-scheduled New Hampshire primary. The South Carolina Republican primary will follow Nevada on February 24.
The decision to schedule the caucuses on February 8 aims to spread out the first four contests over a six-week period. However, this drawn-out process may pose challenges for some candidates to maintain sufficient resources and travel from state to state. This scheduling change also marks a departure from previous Republican calendars, where Nevada was the last of the four early states to vote before Super Tuesday.
There are likely to be additional GOP nominating contests held before Super Tuesday on March 5. The Michigan GOP has proposed a plan to split its nominating process between the state-run primary on February 27 and caucuses on March 2, pending special approval from the Republican National Committee. Idaho Republicans also plan to hold caucuses on March 2. Meanwhile, Republicans in the US Virgin Islands intend to hold a caucus no later than March 2, although the final date has not been announced. North Dakota’s GOP presidential caucuses are scheduled for March 4.
To be eligible to participate in the Nevada Republican caucuses, candidates must forgo participating in the state-run presidential primary. A primary contest will only take place in Nevada if more than one candidate from a party files for the ballot, but it will not be used for delegate allocation. In contrast, Nevada Democrats will use the state-run primary to allocate their delegates.
The 2024 Republican nominating calendar is influenced by changes the Democratic Party is making to its own primary calendar. Under President Joe Biden’s proposed plan, South Carolina would be the first approved nominating contest on February 3, followed by Nevada and New Hampshire on February 6, and Georgia and Michigan before Super Tuesday. However, Iowa law requires its caucuses to be held before any other state, pushing the Iowa Republican caucuses into January. Despite the law, Democratic National Committee officials removed Iowa from the early states group. Iowa Democrats have proposed conducting party business during the caucuses while holding a separate mail-in vote for the presidential preference. However, the plan has not yet been approved by the DNC rules panel.
New Hampshire, which has a law requiring its presidential primary to be held before any “similar election,” faces penalties if it holds a primary before South Carolina. The DNC rules panel has allowed more time for the state party to comply. The use of mail-in ballots in Iowa could trigger New Hampshire to hold the first presidential primary, but that would only occur if Iowa Democrats choose to schedule the mail voting period to end just before the New Hampshire primary.
Nevada and Michigan Democrats will vote on the assigned party plan dates, while Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, has scheduled his state’s primary for March 12 to adhere to GOP rules.
Republican state parties must submit their plans to the RNC by October 1, which may lead to further changes in the primary schedule.
The Nevada GOP’s caucuses will begin at 5 p.m. local time, with absentee voting limited to active-duty military members and their dependents. As the primary season approaches, more details about the Republican nomination process will become available.