Iowa GOP sets 2024 caucus for Jan. 15

Iowa Republicans announced Saturday that the party’s presidential nominating caucuses will be held Jan. 15, on the federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., putting the first votes of the 2024 election a little more than six months away as the GOP tries to reclaim the White House.

White House candidates have campaigned in Iowa since last winter, but there has been some uncertainty about the date for the caucuses that have by tradition kicked off the Republican selection process for a nominee. What’s changed is the Democratic National Committee’s election calendar, dropping Iowa as its first contest.

The Iowa Republican Party’s state central committee voted unanimously for the third Monday in January — a date that is earlier by several weeks than the past three caucuses, though not as early as 2008, when they were held just three days into the new year.

The decision could have implications for both parties. Iowa Democrats had been waiting for the GOP to set a date as they try to adjust to new DNC rules on their primary order.

Democrats have proposed holding a caucus on the same day as the Republicans contest and allowing participants to vote for president via mail-in ballot. But Iowa Democrats have said they may not immediately release the results.

 That could allow the state party to still hold the first-in-the-nation caucus without defying a new election-year calendar endorsed by President Joe Biden and approved by the DNC that calls for South Carolina to replace Iowa in the leadoff spot and kick off primary voting on Feb. 3.