Monday’s 2026 Iowa caucuses come days after DNC begins 2028 calendar talks

Though the caucuses held Monday by the Iowa Democratic and Republican parties will not involve presidential politics, the meetings will come shortly after Democrats begin discussions on the 2028 nominating calendar.

Caucuses will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 2 at precinct locations throughout the state — Republican caucus locations and Democratic caucus locations can be found on the respective parties’ websites. While Iowa caucuses are most famous for playing an important role in choosing party nominees during presidential nomination cycles, that is not the only purpose of these meetings.

The caucuses are where local party members will start discussions on the party platform and elect the members of their precinct who will attend party county conventions.

Iowans must be registered as voters with the Republican or Democratic party to participate in the party’s caucus. This can be performed on the day of the caucuses, with voter registration offered at most caucus locations. In addition to meeting other requirements to becoming a registered voter, registration and participation in the caucuses is also open to Iowans who are 17 years old who will be 18 by Election Day, Nov. 3, 2026.

Caucuses also offer a venue for candidates running in the 2026 election to meet with local voters. Though presidential nominees are decided through caucuses in Iowa, the same is not true for candidates running for other offices. Candidates aiming to be their party’s nominee in the upcoming 2026 races in Iowa for governor, congressional, statewide elected official and state legislative seats will compete in primary elections June 2.

DNC to consider 2028 nominating calendar

Though the 2026 Iowa caucuses are not playing a large role in national politics, the meetings will come days after Democratic National Committee members meet to begin discussing the 2028 presidential nominating calendar.

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The DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee, which oversees the presidential nominating cycle timeline, was scheduled to begin reviewing states’ proposals to hold their presidential nomination contests in the early window at their Saturday, Jan. 31 meeting in Puerto Rico.

The DNC committee asked interested states to submit their request to gain an early contest spot by Jan. 16, and plans to conduct an initial review of these applications.

This is the second cycle where Democrats will consider restructuring their nominating calendar. While Democrats and Republicans had the same calendar for many years, starting with the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, Democrats moved to change their schedule ahead of the 2024 election season.

The restructuring was spurred in part by results reporting issues during the 2020 Iowa caucuses, combined with existing concerns about Iowa’s in-person, evening caucuses being difficult to access. Though the Iowa Democratic Party moved to a “mail-in” caucus system in 2024, in an effort to address some of national Democrats’ concerns, Iowa was still removed from its long-held early state position during the cycle.

For that year, the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee approved a calendar starting with South Carolina, followed by Nevada, New Hampshire, Georgia and Michigan. Democrats faced problems with enacting this lineup, however, as the Republican secretaries of state in New Hampshire and Georgia said they were unable to comply with the DNC schedule.

This means Democrats are once again deciding which states to grant early contest waivers for 2028. While the Iowa Democratic Party has submitted its request to hold an official contest in the early window, state party leaders have not ruled out holding an unsanctioned contest if they are not granted an early state position.

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The IDP conducted a survey among Iowa Democratic voters about the future of the state’s Democratic presidential caucuses in 2025. According to a report on the survey results, most respondents — 65.3 percent — said they wanted Iowa to be first or early in the nominating cycle, but a majority, 51.1 percent, said they do not believe Iowa should defy the DNC calendar “even if it means Iowa is not in the early window.”

The Iowa Republican presidential caucuses remained first-in-the-nation in 2024, and are not expected to be a point of contention in the 2028 cycle.

This article was first published by Iowa Capital Dispatch.