Nearly all of the two-dozen Democratic candidates for president are descending on South Carolina this weekend — including Coloradans John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet.

At least 22 candidates are expected in the Palmetto State in coming days — “the first time since the start of the 2020 campaign cycle that so many candidates are gathered at the same time,” CBS News reports.

Friday, Hickenlooper and Bennet and will be among the speakers at the South Carolina Democratic Party’s Blue Palmetto Dinner and are on the guest list for Rep. Jim Clyburn’s “World Famous Fish Fry” at a children’s museum, both in the state capital of Columbia, S.C.

The Coloradans — and most of their rivals — also are slated to speak at the South Carolina Democrats’ convention Saturday in Columbia, as well as the Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s membership forum, also in Columbia.

A number of candidate gatherings and meet-and-greets are also planned over the weekend in the Palmetto State.

Both Hickenlooper and Bennet also will appear at a Young Democrats of South Carolina reception Friday. Hickenlooper also will stop at a Men’s Health breakfast, a gun-reform roundtable and a meet-and-greet Saturday, while Bennet is hosting a lunch that day with state Democratic leaders. And Hickenlooper plans a speech at Brookland Baptist Church in West Columbia on Sunday.

South Carolina’s “first in the South” primary, to be held next Feb. 29, would be a key early win for a Democratic presidential hopeful.

Unlike other early caucus and primary states in 2020, like Iowa and New Hampshire, African-American voters make up a larrge portion of South Carolina’s electorate.

“This is the kick off for the presidential pre-season of 2020,” South Carolina Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright tells CBS. “This will be the first time you have this many candidates all in one venue, at the same time, at the same stage, talking to a very decisive voting bloc – the most important voting bloc in the Democratic primary – African American voters.”

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