A long-simmering feud between Black and Latino leaders in the Democratic Party exploded into the open Wednesday over which state should vote first in the 2028 presidential primary — South Carolina or Nevada.

Why it matters: The racially fraught battle could help determine which candidates will have an early edge in the race to be the party’s next nominee for the White House.

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• The debate focuses on two groups of voters who are crucial to Democrats’ success in presidential elections.
• Any Democrat seeking to win the party’s nomination must do well among Black voters, while the party is desperate to recoup its dominance with Latino voters after years of seeing them drift to the GOP.

State of play: South Carolina, with its large Black population, and Nevada, with its large Latino population, have emerged as the states most likely to lead off the Democratic contest in 2028, according to interviews with seven members of the Democratic National Committee, state party officials and strategists.

• That’s prompted sniping between leading Black and Latino voices ahead of Thursday’s meeting of the DNC’s powerful Rules & Bylaws Committee, which plays a key role in determining the primary calendar.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, the African American civil rights leader, released a blistering statement Wednesday saying South Carolina should remain first on the primary calendar — as it was in 2024, when then-President Biden effectively placed it there.

• “To turn around now and push South Carolina to the back of the line would be a slap in the face to the very voters who’ve kept this party alive,” said Sharpton, whose comments were blasted out to reporters by South Carolina’s Democratic Party.
• Christale Spain, the state’s party chair, told The New York Times: “If Nevada gets elevated over South Carolina, it would be because of their Latino vote. So you would then be telling Black voters that you matter less than brown voters. And I refuse to believe that our party wants to send any type of message like that.”
• Spain later told Axios: “The Trump administration and Republicans have been very clear-eyed about attacking Black political power. I think that it’s important that we do recognize where we are in this moment.”

More than two dozen Latino leaders, including heads of groups such as Voto Latino and the Latino Victory Project, wrote to the DNC’s rules panel Wednesday urging it to pick Nevada to go first.

• “The committee’s decision on which state will vote first in the 2028 Democratic presidential nominating process is a profound opportunity for the Democratic Party to better engage the voters who reflect the diversity of our nation, including Latinos,” they wrote.
• “Latino voters are driving growth of the electorate,” they added, noting that Nevada also has significant Black, Asian and Native American populations.

The intrigue: The increasingly ugly feud — coming at a time when the party already is divided between centrists and a rising progressive wing — is making some Democrats uncomfortable.

• Committee member Donna Brazile, who’s long advocated for making sure southern states aren’t overlooked in the primary process, told Axios her goal “is to advocate that the Rules & Bylaws Committee delay the final vote past Nov. 3, and use the midterm results as an explicit input into the final regional picks.”
• Daniele Monroe-Moreno, chair of Nevada’s Democratic Party, told Axios that Spain “is my friend, and she will still be my friend no matter what.” She said, “As a Black woman and the first Black chair of the Nevada state Democratic Party, I would say that … it’s not about any state over another.”
• “We have Black people throughout this country,” Monroe-Moreno added. “And yes, I will agree that the Black voter base has held the Democratic Party down nationwide. And that is not one state that has held this party down, but Black people in general.”

Between the lines: The order in which states vote can boost certain candidates over others.

• South Carolina going first could give former Vice President Harris an advantage in a 2028 primary. Early polls show her dominating the potential 2028 field among Black voters.
• It’s less certain which candidates would have an advantage if Nevada kicked off the primary.
• Progressive Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders won it comfortably in 2020. His protégé, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is weighing a White House run and could start with a base of support if Nevada were to go first.
• But after 2020, Nevada changed its presidential contest from a caucus to a primary — which some Democrats say gives progressives less of an edge.