South Carolina Republican primary set for January 21
Updated: 11:42 a.m. ET
South Carolina will hold its Republican presidential primary on January 21, South Carolina GOP Chairman Chad Connelly announced on Monday.
The announcement comes on the heels of Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon's announcement last weekthat the state will be holding its primary on January 31, 2012 -- nearly a month earlier than the February 21 date at which the state had previously been looking.
"Last Friday, a nine person committee brought chaos to the 2012 calendar. Today, South Carolina is making things right," Connelly said in a statement. "South Carolina Republicans have a thirty year track record of picking the eventual Republican Presidential nominee. We will continue that historic tradition on January 21, 2012."
"It will undoubtedly be a spirited campaign to make Barack Obama just the worst ONE term President in American history," Connelly added. "We are united in this mission, and any candidate who ignores South Carolina does so at great peril."
The move will likely move up the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries earlier into January as the two states seek to maintain their first-in-the-nation status.
The Iowa caucuses will now likely take place at the start of January, with the New Hampshire primaries a week behind, and Nevada following in mid-January.
In a statement released after the Florida announcement last week, Connelly condemned the decision and called it "hugely disappointing."
"Rogue states have once again dictated the Presidential nominating calendar. I call on my fellow RNC members and all Republicans to strongly condemn Florida's decision to hold their primary on January 31," he said." "States who have worked so hard to maintain the nominating calendar should not be penalized and the offenders, including Florida, should lose their entire allocations of delegates at the National Convention. Rules matter and the four traditional early states (Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina) did everything they could to avoid this unfortunate situation."
