Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) announced she believes her home state of California, with 40 million residents, has the money it needs to fix the Democratic party’s internal debates regarding future primary elections and should have “more say.”

In an interview with CNBC, Waters stated, “Los Angeles money should equal far more power when it comes to influencing presidential elections.”

81-year-old Waters went on to say, “As you know, we have candidates who fly out to Los Angeles from everywhere to raise money. As a matter of fact, it had gotten so that you would have two, three, four at a time in Beverly Hills having dinners. And some of our contributors who are very rich were holding, you know, fancy parties, trying to accommodate the request for donations and contributions. And so, you know, the conclusion, the thinking is that if we are supplying tremendous dollars to candidates, we ought to have more say.”

Another reason Waters thinks California should lead in 2024 with the primaries is that “Iowa and New Hampshire are not reflective of the makeup of this country.”

In 2017, then-Governor Jerry Brown signed a law making California’s presidential primary in March instead of June.

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Waters has been serving as a U.S representative for the 43rd congressional district - southern part of Los Angeles County and includes portions of the cities of Los Angeles and Torrance- since 1991.