Without any debate, the Rhode Island House took up and unanimously passed H 7090 on Thursday, April 30. The 62-0 vote by the members of the lower chamber would shift the presidential primary in the Ocean state from the fourth Tuesday in April to the first Tuesday in March, Super Tuesday.
The measure now advances to the state Senate where identical legislation has also been introduced and considered in committee.
--
Noteworthy: A few things on this potential change in Rhode Island:- As the committee chair who introduced the H 7090 on the floor noted before passage, a Super Tuesday primary would align Rhode Island with most of its New England area neighbors on the primary calendar. Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont are all already positioned on Super Tuesday. New Hampshire will continue to be an exception with an earlier primary and Connecticut has yet to make any move to join the others in March for 2028.
- Rhode Island has not been a part of Super Tuesday since 2004. The state was one of the rare few who did not move into February to join the Super Tuesday logjam in 2008 and then moved back into April alongside a number of neighbors for 2012. It has remained on the back half of the primary calendar ever since. [One could argue that Rhode Island was not on Super Tuesday in 2004. It was a cycle in which Democrats allowed February contests and while some states took advantage of the rule change, the biggest shift to the earlier point did not occur until 2008. The effect in 2004 was to make the early March Super Tuesday a bit less crowded -- a bit less super -- and the overall calendar less frontloaded than was the case in 2000. Still, the most delegates of the 2004 cycle were at stake on the first Tuesday in March.]
- Other chambers have passed presidential primary legislation across the country during this 2026 legislative session, but most have died along the way. Rhode Island actually shows some signs of momentum on this front. The list of legislative backers in both chambers in Providence means H 7090 will likely face a favorable audience in the upper chamber. And the unanimous vote in the House likely will not hamper that progress.
--
Related:
2/18/26: Senate companion bill would also see Rhode Island presidential primary shifted to Super Tuesday
This action will be added to the annotated 2028 presidential primary calendar over at our sister site, FHQ Plus.
--
No comments:
Post a Comment