Some Michigan Democrats say the state’s voters deserve a more prominent place in the presidential primary process.
Officials on both sides of the political spectrum often chafe at Iowa and New Hampshire’s traditional role as the first presidential battlegrounds which gives those states an in-ordinate amount of influence on what candidates continue their bids for the White House.
But U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow and Dearborn Congresswoman Debbie Dingell say Michigan is more representative of the country as a whole, with its mix of urban and rural areas and a variety of cultures.
The Democratic legislators want their national party to move Michigan’s primary to an earlier date.
Any schedule change almost certainly must be done in conjunction with state Republicans and the national Democratic party has resisted such efforts in the past.
In 2008, Michigan moved its primary to mid-January and Democratic party officials stripped the state of delegates before it eventually allowed them to vote at the national convention.