It’s A Date

Due in part to South Carolina’s political parties previously funding their presidential primaries as well as various cycles in which primaries were not held due to incumbents running for reelection, the 2024 cycle is just the fourth time in which the Palmetto State will hold both Republican and Democratic primaries. The 21-day gap between the Democratic contest on February 3rd and the GOP primary on February 24th is the largest to date. In 1992, both primaries were held on March 7th and they were held within a week of each other in 2008 (January 19th for the GOP and January 26th for the Democrats) and in 2016 (February 20th for the Republicans and February 27th for the Democrats). Since the first GOP contest in 1980, Republican primaries were skipped in 1984, 2004, and 2020. Democrats held their first presidential primary in 1992 and skipped the 1996, 2000, and 2012 cycles.