COLUMBIA — South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary will remain “first in the South” and fourth overall in 2028 after the Republican National Committee this week agreed to keep its existing early-state order.
An exact date for the contest here has not been set, but it will follow Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, and will probably again be held in mid to late February.
“I’m extremely happy about that, it’s what we expected to happen, and it’s what’s worked for every cycle basically for the last 40 years,” S.C. Republican Party Chairman Drew McKissick said.
The calendar, approved as Republicans met in Dallas for an unusual midterm convention focused around President Donald Trump, confirms the Palmetto State will be a key primary battleground for both parties in 2028.
It was picked in July to be first on the Democrats’ calendar, with that primary coming Jan. 22, 2028, and potential candidates are already making swings through the state.
South Carolina’s vote has typically been a consequential one for Republicans. Its winner has gone on to claim the GOP nomination in every cycle since 1980, except for in 2012, when the eventual nominee Mitt Romney took second place behind Newt Gingrich.
Trump resoundingly won the 2024 contest over former Gov. Nikki Haley with almost 60 percent of the vote.
“Today’s vote preserves the path to the Republican presidential nomination and gives our voters a strong voice in the process,” RNC Chairman Joe Gruters said in a Sept. 10 news release.
South Carolina’s fourth-place spot means Republicans may well have the state to themselves for some time after Democrats vote. Their 2016 and 2024 primary were both in mid-to-late February; the party didn’t hold a 2020 contest because Trump was the incumbent.
McKissick said he expects the exact calendar to be set by next summer.
“I am not adverse to South Carolina Republicans owning as much of the calendar as they possibly can, let’s put it that way,” he told reporters in August. “I think all candidates ought to have to spend an inordinate amount of time in South Carolina, going to every chicken dinner and barbecue they can.”
Several high-profile Republicans from across the country have made the trip recently. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry was the keynote speaker at a state party fundraiser in Columbia last month, and Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy was in Richburg to kick off state Sen. Wes Climer’s general election campaign for U.S. House.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who ran for president in 2016, was also here on the gubernatorial trail in June, backing S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson before his primary win.
And while a term-limited Trump won’t be on the ballot for the first time since 2016, he may still loom over the campaign to succeed him as head of a party that has largely been remade along MAGA lines — particularly after his successful campaign for U.S. Sen. Darline Graham showed that he still has plenty of sway here.