Consolidated May presidential primary bill advances out of committee in Idaho Senate

Late last week the Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee held a committee hearing on S 1398, a second bill introduced in the upper chamber to restore the presidential primary in the Gem state and consolidate that preference vote with the primaries for other offices in the state. Additionally, the legislation would schedule the election for the Monday after the first Tuesday in May, marginally earlier than the mid- to late May date on which the state primary has traditionally been conducted.

The intent is largely similar to that of a previous bill. However, as Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane noted in testimony to the committee on Friday, March 20, the reason for the second bill was largely technical, aligning all language across statutes with the earlier May date (something the previous version failed to fully account for). While McGrane again did not support this legislation, the secretary of state does support the reestablishment of the presidential primary in some form. 

There is a competing bill that has been passed by the state House. Only, that bill would reinstitute a separate presidential primary and schedule that election for Super Tuesday. That scheduling dispute (and the costs associated with each of the active versions) is the same impasse that derailed efforts to bring the presidential primary back for the 2024 cycle (after it was mistakenly cancelled). 

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Noteworthy: There was no opposition testimony to the consolidated primary concept. Representatives from the League of Women Voters in Idaho voiced support and members of the panel who responded to testimony were all generally behind the idea. The subsequent voice vote to move the measure on to the full Senate with a "Do Pass" recommendation passed with no apparent dissenting votes. 

S 1398 now moves on to the full Senate for consideration.

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See also:

2/19/26: Idaho legislators again try to resurrect presidential primary in the Gem state

3/4/26: "Idaho Legislature might bring back presidential primary, after caucus had ‘dismal’ turnout"

3/10/26: Super Tuesday primary bill passes Idaho House

3/19/26: Second May presidential primary bill introduced in Idaho Senate

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This action has been added to the annotated 2028 presidential primary calendar over at our sister site, FHQ Plus.

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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

The Annotated 2028 Presidential Primary Calendar

Tracking the evolution of the timeline of delegate selection events that will determine the next presidential nominees

Second May presidential primary bill introduced in Idaho Senate

Earlier this week, the Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee brought forth a subsequent bill to reestablish the presidential preference vote in the Gem state and consolidate the election with those primaries for state and local office in May. 

The intent of S 1398 is much the same as the previous bill introduced by the committee. It would restore the presidential primary, hold it concurrent with the other primaries and marginally shift up the date of the consolidated election. Instead of falling on the third Tuesday in May, as has been the tradition in Idaho, the election would fall on the Tuesday after the first Monday in May. The resulting primary would end up one or two weeks earlier than has been the custom in Idaho, depending on the year.

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Noteworthy: Although the two state Senate bills would have virtually the same impact in the area of the presidential primary, the newly introduced legislation is a more encompassing elections bill. And since S 1398 is on the Senate State Affairs Committee agenda already, it is likely that it has supplanted S 1366 as the main vehicle for the presidential primary reestablishment in the upper chamber. 

Both Senate bills differ from the House-passed version. 

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See also:

2/19/26: Idaho legislators again try to resurrect presidential primary in the Gem state

3/4/26: "Idaho Legislature might bring back presidential primary, after caucus had ‘dismal’ turnout"

3/10/26: Super Tuesday primary bill passes Idaho House

3/25/26: Consolidated May presidential primary bill advances out of committee in Idaho Senate

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This action has been added to the annotated 2028 presidential primary calendar over at our sister site, FHQ Plus.

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The Annotated 2028 Presidential Primary Calendar

Tracking the evolution of the timeline of delegate selection events that will determine the next presidential nominees

Super Tuesday primary bill passes Idaho House

Sans debate and discussion and with merely a brief introduction by the bill's sponsor, HB 638 passed the Idaho House by a vote of 45-23 on Monday, March 9. While the legislation split the majority Republican caucus in the lower chamber, a clear majority of them supported the move to reinstate a separate presidential primary and schedule the election for the first Tuesday in March. Seven of the nine House Democrats were behind the measure with just one dissenting vote and one absence. 

The bill would return the presidential nomination process in the Gem state to the way things were for 2020 before the presidential primary was repealed in 2023.

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Noteworthy: The seeming ease with which this legislation glided through the House should not be misread. The rubber likely hits the road at this juncture because there is competing legislation in the state Senate that would not only bring back the presidential primary but consolidate it with the primaries for other offices across the state in early May. 

Now there are two issues that separate these bills:

1. Timing of the primary -- March or May.
2. Price tag -- $2.5m for a separate presidential primary in March or rolling the presidential preference vote into the May primary at no additional cost.

These are not uncommon themes when it comes to introducing or reintroducing a presidential primary into the elections landscape in a given state. And this will all be a topic of discussion as things shift to the state Senate now. But it was in 2023 also when an oversight cost the state its presidential primary. 

And most in Idaho seem to support the shift back to the primary. 

While he remained neutral on the House bill (separate March primary), Secretary of State Phil McGrane reiterated in the House State Affairs Committee hearing late last week his support for a primary over caucuses, echoing the support for such a transition that he had voiced in response to the filing of the Senate bill (consolidated May primary).

Additionally, the state Republican Party is also in favor a change back to the presidential primary. However, the party is not undecided as to when the election should scheduled. In a resolution adopted during the state party's summer meeting, the party sided with the earlier, March option. 

Still, the price tag on that March primary (the House version) is going to potentially cause some problems. However, part of the pinch there is supposed to be offset by the $50k filing fee for the separate presidential primary that is layered into the House measure. 

Regardless, both bills now sit before the Senate State Affairs Committee (or will when the House-passed bill is transmitted to the upper chamber). 

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See also:

2/19/26: Idaho legislators again try to resurrect presidential primary in the Gem state

3/4/26: "Idaho Legislature might bring back presidential primary, after caucus had ‘dismal’ turnout"

3/19/26: Second May presidential primary bill introduced in Idaho Senate

3/25/26: Consolidated May presidential primary bill advances out of committee in Idaho Senate

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This action has been added to the annotated 2028 presidential primary calendar over at our sister site, FHQ Plus.

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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

The 2028 Annotated Presidential Primary Calendar

Tracking the evolution of the timeline of delegate selection events that will determine the next presidential nominees

Missouri House Elections Committee reports amended Super Tuesday primary bill "do pass"

The story of the 2026 legislative session in Jefferson City thus far has been one of obstacles to legislation intended to restore the Show-Me state's presidential primary. Two broad elections bills, one in the House and one in the Senate, saw provisions to reestablish the presidential primary and schedule the election for Super Tuesday removed at the committee stage. Another measure calling for a slightly later March presidential primary sits idle in the upper chamber. 

But the remaining two presidential primary bills in the House -- HB 2387 and HB 2480 -- have been merged in executive session of the House Elections Committee and reported out with a "do pass" recommendation. Additionally, during that March 3 hearing, the committee adopted an amended version of the legislation, dropping sections in the introduced bill pertaining to no-excuse absentee voting in the primary and adding language binding national convention delegates based on the results of the primary. 

The latter change was spurred by feedback the bill's sponsor on the committee got during a February 3 hearing for the bill. It was in that early February hearing where some familiar themes were once again raised by opponents of the primary. In fact, much of the opposition echoed comments from an earlier hearing for the omnibus House elections bill that ended with the presidential primary section being stripped from the legislation.

HB 2387/2480 passed the House Elections Committee as amended by a 10-2 vote in favor.

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Noteworthy: While the adopted committee substitute for HB 2387/2480 addressed the binding concerns of some opponents, it did not also include one of their other sticking points that has emerged not only in 2026 but in past sessions in Missouri: closing the open primary system to registered members of a party. But the bill that now moves on to the House Rules Committee for consideration does include language allocating national convention delegates on a proportional basis and binding those delegates based on the primary results for through the first ballot vote at the national convention. 

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See also: 

12/10/25: Missouri Senate bills prefiled to reinstate presidential primary

12/18/25: Missouri House again tees up host of bills to resurrect the defunct Show-Me state presidential primary

1/28/26: "House committee kills plan to reinstate Missouri presidential primary"

2/3/26: Another one bites the dust: Missouri Senate bill stripped of provision to reestablish a presidential primary

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The Annotated 2028 Presidential Primary Calendar

Tracking the evolution of the timeline of delegate selection events that will determine the next presidential nominees

"Idaho Legislature might bring back presidential primary, after caucus had ‘dismal’ turnout"

The Idaho Capital Sun's Kyle Pfannenstiel has the latest on another bill in Boise to reinstate the presidential primary in the Gem state:

"Ahead of the 2028 presidential election, the Idaho Legislature is considering at least two competing bills to bring back the presidential primary election.

"One bill headed to the House floor, House Bill 638, would have the state hold the presidential primary election in March — separately from the state’s May primary elections for state legislative seats.

"The bill, sponsored by Rep. Kyle Harris, R-Lewiston, would also require presidential candidates to pay a $50,000 fee to have their name on Idaho’s ballots. The fees are meant to help offset the state’s estimated $2.5 million cost to run the next presidential primary.

"A separate bill, introduced in the Senate State Affairs Committee on Wednesday, would hold Idaho’s presidential primary election in May in tandem with the state’s other primary elections. Bill sponsor Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-McCammon, said the caucus 'estranges a lot of voters from the process.'”

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Noteworthy: FHQ has discussed the House bill introduced last month. The lower chamber's version envisions a separate Super Tuesday presidential primary in Idaho. The Senate's newly introduced version -- S 1366 -- would follow the lead of both bills the Senate State Affairs Committee brought forth during the 2024 legislative session. As then, Sen. Guthrie's measure on behalf of the committee would bring the state-run presidential primary back, but would consolidate the presidential preference vote with the primaries for other offices.  

Only, this new legislation splits the difference with those two 2024 bills on the timing of the consolidated election. Whereas one of the competing 2024 bills sought to consolidate the presidential primary with the Idaho primary traditionally scheduled on the third Tuesday in May, the other proposed moving the concurrent primaries together up to the third Tuesday in April. [Neither advanced in 2024.]

The 2026 compromise? 

Again, split the difference. The Senate State Affairs Committee bill this session would bring the presidential primary back but shift the consolidated primary up a couple(-ish) of weeks to the Tuesday after the first Monday in May. 

Yes, that is marginally earlier, but no, it is unlikely to be much closer to the area of the calendar when presidential nominations are typically decided in recent years. As a result, the question before the Idaho legislature in 2026 is over the money it will take to fund a new and separate presidential primary or to save that money by reinstating the presidential preference vote on the later May primary ballot. 

...or legislators could punt on the matter once again and leave things as they are. 

For what it is worth Pfannenstiel notes that Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane supports the primary (over caucuses). As he said:

"I’ve heard it resoundingly in my role that Idahoans want to be able to vote. Anything that the Legislature can do to restore the presidential primary to make that happen, I’m in support of."

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See also:

2/19/26: Idaho legislators again try to resurrect presidential primary in the Gem state

3/10/26: Super Tuesday primary bill passes Idaho House

3/19/26: Second May presidential primary bill introduced in Idaho Senate

3/25/26: Consolidated May presidential primary bill advances out of committee in Idaho Senate

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This legislation will be added to the annotated 2028 presidential primary calendar over at our sister site, FHQ Plus.

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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

The Annotated 2028 Presidential Primary Calendar

Tracking the evolution of the timeline of delegate selection events that will determine the next presidential nominees

Idaho legislators again try to resurrect presidential primary in the Gem state

The Idaho House State Affairs Committee has introduced legislation to reestablish a separate state-funded presidential primary. H 638 would reinstitute the state-run election and schedule it for Super Tuesday (the first Tuesday in March), two and a half months earlier than the separate primaries for other offices in the Gem state.

This 2026 effort comes three years after Idaho legislators eliminated the separate presidential primary -- then scheduled for the second Tuesday in March -- ahead of the voting phase of the 2024 presidential nomination process.

Both parties in Idaho caucused in lieu of a primary in 2024.

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Noteworthy: A year after eliminating the separate presidential primary, legislators in Boise returned in 2024 to bring the primary back for future cycles. Competing plans sponsored by the Senate State Affairs Committee to reestablish the presidential primary and consolidate it with the primaries for other offices in either April or May (the position the Idaho primary has traditionally occupied) passed the upper chamber but went nowhere on the other side of the capitol. 

Those efforts differ from the 2026 bill brought by the House State Affairs Committee. That legislation proposes bringing back and funding a separate presidential primary election in early March. The price tag was a significant talking point during the elimination effort in 2023 and is often raised in Republican-controlled legislatures across the country during presidential primary bill consideration. It will likely be a topic of discussion if not a roadblock in Boise should H 638 progress during this current session.

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See also:

3/4/26: "Idaho Legislature might bring back presidential primary, after caucus had ‘dismal’ turnout"

3/10/26: Super Tuesday primary bill passes Idaho House

3/19/26: Second May presidential primary bill introduced in Idaho Senate

3/25/26: Consolidated May presidential primary bill advances out of committee in Idaho Senate

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This legislation will be added to the annotated 2028 presidential primary calendar over at our sister site, FHQ Plus.

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The Annotated 2028 Presidential Primary Calendar

Tracking the evolution of the timeline of delegate selection events that will determine the next presidential nominees

Senate companion bill would also see Rhode Island presidential primary shifted to Super Tuesday

The Rhode Island state House bill to move the presidential primary in the Ocean state from April to the first Tuesday in March now has a companion in the upper chamber. 

S 2491, with language matching that of the version introduced in January in the lower chamber, would push the presidential primary currently scheduled for the fourth Tuesday in April up seven weeks to Super Tuesday.

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Noteworthy: The lead sponsor of the Senate version will also be responsible for shepherding the bill through the committee he chairs. Senator Matthew LaMountain (D-31st, Warwick) not only chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee but is among a list of co-sponsors that includes the entire leadership of the Democratic majority in the chamber, save the president of the Senate. That may ultimately reveal nothing about the bill's trajectory, but it may also indicate how much of a priority this move is within Democratic circles in the state. 

The House version was sponsored by a former chair of the Rhode Island Democratic Party. 

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Related:

2/9/26: Rhode Island legislation eyeing Super Tuesday presidential primary

This legislation will be added to the annotated 2028 presidential primary calendar over at our sister site, FHQ Plus.

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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

The Annotated 2028 Presidential Primary Calendar

Tracking the evolution of the timeline of delegate selection events that will determine the next presidential nominees

Companion Super Tuesday presidential primary bill working through Kansas Senate

Kansas decision makers reinstated the state's once dormant, and then dead, state-run presidential primary for the 2024 cycle. But it was a one-off. The primary was codified but resurrected for just 2024. However, the experiment seemed to have worked because the major parties in the state preferred the primary to state party-run caucuses and are back, post-2024, advocating for the primary to return permanently in 2028 and beyond. 

The bill that the parties requested be introduced during the 2026 session of the Kansas legislature has cleared the initial committee stage on the House side. Under the provisions of that legislation, the presidential primary in the Sunflower state would be reestablished and scheduled for Super Tuesday, the first Tuesday in March in 2028 and every four years thereafter. And while that may ultimately be the legislative vehicle that brings the change to fruition, there is also a carbon-copy companion bill currently awaiting committee action in the state Senate. 

The House version has seen a technical amendment to a section not affecting the primary timing. If it passes the House, then that change will have to be reconciled with the bill in the upper chamber (or the House version advanced there).

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Noteworthy: Last year, the Kansas legislature passed and saw enacted a bill that would create a special election date on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March. FHQ wondered at the time if that was meant as a potential placeholder for a future presidential primary. It seems, in retrospect, that it was. But now, both 2026 bills cited above amend that placement even further, striking "after the first Monday" from current law. That would avoid the problem of the Kansas presidential primary not falling on Super Tuesday in years when March begins on a Tuesday. 

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Related: 

1/28/26: "KS GOP, Democratic leaders agree on state-run [presidential] primary"

This legislation will be added to the annotated 2028 presidential primary calendar over at our sister site, FHQ Plus.

"Missing an opportunity," senator defers latest attempt to establish a presidential primary in Hawaii

Hawaii state Sen. Karl Rhoads (D-13th, Dowsett Highlands) has been attempting to pass legislation in the Aloha state to establish a state-run presidential primary since 2023. His bill that year to create a presidential primary election and schedule it for Super Tuesday passed the state Senate and later an amended version passed the state House with a new date: the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April. 

That change was never reconciled in the state Senate and the amended bill died on the final day of the 2023 legislative session. But Rhoads has kept the idea of an early April presidential primary in Hawaii alive in subsequent years. Legislation was introduced in both 2024 and 2025 and languished in committee both times.

However, Rhoads has returned in 2026 to try again. Legislation functionally similar to the where the previous three versions ended up was introduced at the start of the legislative session in Honolulu. But once again, it faced resistance. Both the Republican and Libertarian parties in Hawaii formally opposed the measure and Democrats, according to Rhoads in a committee hearing late last week, were not supportive either:

"Considering that both the Republicans and the Democrats -- and the Libertarians -- don't want it... I think we are missing an opportunity for improve... Well, people want to vote for president, so I think we're missing an opportunity. But I don't see it happening, so I'm just going to defer it."

So Rhoads pulled the bill, seemingly tabling the effort for the year. 

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Noteworthy: As was discussed during the aforementioned committee hearing, Hawaii remains one of the dwindling number of caucus states in the presidential nomination process. While there were a number of party-run primaries on the Democratic side in 2024, there were a handful of caucuses as well. Hawaii was one of just three caucus states for Democrats in the last cycle. Caucuses are not nearly as out of fashion among Republicans.

This legislation will be added to the annotated 2028 presidential primary calendar over at our sister site, FHQ Plus.

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The Annotated 2028 Presidential Primary Calendar

Tracking the evolution of the timeline of delegate selection events that will determine the next presidential nominees

Rhode Island legislation eyeing Super Tuesday presidential primary

Legislation introduced in Providence in January would shift the presidential primary in the Ocean state up to Super Tuesday in 2028 and beyond. 

Current state law provides for a state-run presidential primary in Rhode Island to be conducted on the fourth Tuesday in April. The primary has begun every cycle since 2012 in that position on the calendar, often aligned with primaries in neighboring states across the northeast and mid-Atlantic. But the last two cycles have seen temporary changes to the contest's statutory late April date. The Covid pandemic forced a delay in 2020 and the primary was pushed up to the first Tuesday in April but only for the 2024 cycle. The date reverted to the end of April thereafter. 

And that is what H 7090, sponsored by Rhode Island Rep. Joseph McNamara (D-19th, Warwick & Cranston), seeks to change starting in 2028. The Rhode Island Democratic Party supports the move to Super Tuesday, citing alignment with primaries in Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont on the same date. Deputy Secretary of State Rob Rock spoke in favor of the change in a committee hearing as did elections administrators in Newport, who filed written support.

H 7090 was heard before the Rhode Island House State Government and Elections Committee on February 5. It, along with the other bills considered in the hearing, were held for further study. That does not kill or necessarily table any change. Rather, the committee voted before consideration of the items on their agenda not to vote on any bills before it that day. 

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Noteworthy: While a move to the first Tuesday in March would align the Rhode Island presidential primary with those in Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont, the Ocean state may not be the only one from the former northeastern/mid-Atlantic primary of the recent past to consider a move to Super Tuesday. There is active legislation in New York to make a similar move and Delaware was said at the recent DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee to have a Super Tuesday primary date as well. It does not, but that may be an indication of intent in the First state if Delaware is not granted an even earlier position in the early window by the DNC for 2028. Other states in the area may follow.

This legislation will be added to the annotated 2028 presidential primary calendar over at our sister site, FHQ Plus.

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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

New York? On Super Tuesday? 

It has happened before and history may repeat itself in 2028. What are the implications?

Another one bites the dust: Missouri Senate bill stripped of provision to reestablish a presidential primary

Same story, different chamber. 

Last week, a sprawling elections bill passed the Missouri state House Elections Committee, but saw a provision reestablishing a presidential primary in the Show-Me state and scheduling the election for Super Tuesday stripped out in the process. 

Later on in the week, the Senate Local Government, Elections and Pensions Committee held a hearing on a similar legislation on its side of the capitol. And then the same thing happened in the upper chamber this week that happened to the House version a week ago: A substitute version of the bill passed the committee but without the presidential primary measure included.

Granted, comments from the Senate bill's sponsor in the initial hearing did not exactly bode well for the presidential primary section of the legislation. Sen. Sandy Crawford (R-28th, Buffalo), via Sarah Kellogg at St. Louis Public Radio:

"Crawford said that she wasn’t a fan of reinstating the primary, but that a lot of people want it back.

"'One of the things that I did hear that I thought was legitimate, if we don't have the presidential preferential primary, there's no way for military overseas to have any kind of a voice in the process,' Crawford said."

This notion of military personnel being disenfranchised by caucuses is not a new one in the on-again, off-again presidential primary dialog in the Missouri General Assembly. Rep. Rudy Veit (R-59th, Wardsville), who has a primary bill of his own still active on the House side, has raised it with regularity in the time since the Missouri presidential primary was eliminated in 2022.

However, once again, those concerns took a back seat to the price tag associated with the presidential primary. As Kellogg reported on the recent committee hearing on SB 836:

"Sen. Jamie Burger (R-27th, Benton), expressed concern over paying to conduct the presidential primary, especially with the necessity of a tighter state budget."

And those cost issues are often tied up with others in the context of these discussions, from the binding of national convention delegates to Missouri's open primary. 

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Noteworthy: At the start of the 2026 session in Jefferson City there were five bills that had presidential primary provisions appended to them. Two of those bills, one in the state House and another very similar to it in the state Senate, have moved out of committee but without the sections devoted to bringing the presidential primary back in the Show-Me state. The sponsor on the House side has said that she will try to add the primary back to the legislation on the floor via amendment. Yet, it is not clear that the Senate sponsor will follow that path in the upper chamber. 

Still, there are three other bills that remain active, two in the state House and one other in the state Senate.

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See also: 

12/10/25: Missouri Senate bills prefiled to reinstate presidential primary

12/18/25: Missouri House again tees up host of bills to resurrect the defunct Show-Me state presidential primary

1/28/26: "House committee kills plan to reinstate Missouri presidential primary"

3/5/26: Missouri House Elections Committee reports amended Super Tuesday primary bill "do pass"

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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

The Annotated 2028 Presidential Primary Calendar

Tracking the evolution of the timeline of delegate selection events that will determine the next presidential nominees

"KS GOP, Democratic leaders agree on state-run [presidential] primary"

Melissa Brunner at WIBW (Topeka) on a bill before the Kansas House Committee on Elections:

"The chairs of the state’s Democratic and Republican parties say they agree that the state’s presidential preference primaries should be state-run.

"The House Elections Committee held a hearing Tuesday afternoon on a bill that would make a test-run in March 2024 a permanent policy.

"Before that, the parities each held their own statewide caucuses or primaries to decide the preferred candidate for their delegates.

"GOP chair Danedri Herbert and Democratic chair Jeanna Repass both say state-run primaries will ensure Kansans have their voices heard."

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Noteworthy: HB 2447 would reinstate a state-run presidential primary in the Sunflower state and permanently schedule the election for the first Tuesday in March every four years. 

Kansas legislators passed legislation in 2023 to reestablish a state-run presidential primary in the state, but it was a one-off, applying only to the 2024 cycle. As I wrote over at FHQ Plus around the time a number of bills were making the rounds in the statehouse...

Kansas has an interesting history with the presidential primary. Actually, Kansas has very little history with a presidential primary as the means of allocating delegates to the national conventions. Only twice in the post-reform era has the state officially held a primary: in 1980 and again in 1992. And from 1996 until 2012, the dance that the Kansas legislature would perform would be to not appropriate funds for a presidential primary election and change the date in the statute referencing the election to the next cycle. That routine ended for the 2016 cycle when the presidential primary was struck from the Kansas statutes altogether, eliminating the contest and the need to (not) fund it.

The current bill was brought forth on the request of the Kansas Republican Party Chair Danedri Herbert, is sponsored by the House Committee on Elections and has the support of both major parties in the state.

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This legislation will be added to the annotated 2028 presidential primary calendar over at our sister site, FHQ Plus.

"House committee kills plan to reinstate Missouri presidential primary"

Rudi Keller at the Missouri Independent with the latest from Jefferson City on the efforts to resurrect the state-run presidential primary in the Show-Me state:

"The push to reinstate Missouri’s presidential primary suffered a defeat Tuesday when the House Elections Committee voted to remove it from a wide-ranging elections bill.

"On a voice vote, the committee removed the provision from the bill. The measure also extends the period for 'no-excuse absentee' voting from two to four weeks.

"The committee then voted 13-1, with two abstentions, to send the bill to the full House for debate.

"The primary is unpopular with well-organized groups who prefer the caucus system traditionally used to select Missouri’s delegates to presidential nominating conventions, said the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Peggy McGaugh, a Republican from Carrollton."

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Noteworthy: Mark one presidential primary bill off the list in Missouri. Four remain active in the 2026 legislative session, two in the House and two others in the state Senate. The dispute has been a consistent one, post-2022, when the presidential primary was nixed in an omnibus elections bill that passed in the waning hours of the legislature's term that year. It boils down to something that Keller later picked up on in his synopsis of the committee's actions during its executive session on the bill on January 27:

"A caucus is easier to control than the primary, she said. Even though Missouri’s primary is just a popularity contest — no delegates are pledged based on the result — opponents don’t want evidence they are not the majority of their party’s voters, she [bill sponsor, McGaugh] said."

But here's the thing: The premise that no delegates are bound, that, in turn, the primary is a beauty contest and, as a result, that the state should not fund the election is built on the thinnest reasoning. Yet, it keeps coming up session after session in Jefferson City when these primary bills face scrutiny in committee (or on the floor). In fact, the sponsor of the controversial 2022 elections bill that eliminated the presidential primary, Rep. John Simmons (R-109th, Washington), raised it in the committee hearing for McGaugh's HB 1871 two weeks ago:

"Why are we having a presidential primary when we aren't binding the electors [delegates] and the parties are still running a caucus and technically deciding electors there and we the taxpayers are paying $10m for a show election that doesn't actually have legal meaning to it." 

Never mind that the delegates were bound based on the results of the primary when it was still codified in state law (and the caucuses in 2024 when it was not). But that was a function of the parties' rules -- at both the state and national levels -- defining the nature of the binding and not the state, based on state law. 

Missouri Republicans, those in the legislature most firmly opposed to the return of the state-funded primary anyway, seem to have trust issues with the state party. The party rules have consistently bound delegates. However, those same rules -- rules that are very much consistent with those in other states in the national Republican process -- 1) allow for the release of delegates bound to candidates who have dropped out of the race for the nomination and 2) allow delegates aligned with one candidate to be selected and bound to another candidate (again, based on the primary or caucus results). Those Show-Me state Republicans in opposition to the primary want a legal remedy to those outs that Republican delegates have, to lock them into the binding at the convention no matter what.

That is what keeps killing these bills in Missouri. And HB 1871 is yet another casualty. 

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And just as a postscript, it should be noted that when McGaugh is talking about "control" she is noting control of the presidential primary (or caucus) electorate. This came up in hearing as well, but there are a number of legislative Republicans in the Show-Me state who are not keen on the open primary there. Caucuses allow the Republican Party in Missouri to restrict the electorate to Republicans only, shielding the election from the potential participation of Democrats. 

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See also: 

12/10/25: Missouri Senate bills prefiled to reinstate presidential primary

12/18/25: Missouri House again tees up host of bills to resurrect the defunct Show-Me state presidential primary

2/3/26: Another one bites the dust: Missouri Senate bill stripped of provision to reestablish a presidential primary

3/5/26: Missouri House Elections Committee reports amended Super Tuesday primary bill "do pass"

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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

The Annotated 2028 Presidential Primary Calendar

Tracking the evolution of the timeline of delegate selection events that will determine the next presidential nominees

Missouri House again tees up host of bills to resurrect the defunct Show-Me state presidential primary

Missouri state Rep. Rudy Veit (R-59th, Wardsville) is at it again.

After unsuccessfully lobbying in 2023 and 2025 for the presidential primary in the Show-Me state to be reinstated after it was eliminated by an omnibus elections bill in 2022, Veit is back with another attempt in 2026. And like its 2025 predecessor, HB 2480 would reestablish the state-run presidential preference election and schedule it for the first Tuesday in March, Super Tuesday.

Veit, however, was not the first to the presidential primary (reinstatement) party in the lead up to the 2026 state legislative session in Jefferson City. Yes, there is legislation that has been pre-filed in the state Senate. But there were two other bills proposed in the lower chamber before Veit got there. Both HB 1871 and HB 2387 have sponsors who have also made past attempts at reviving the presidential primary and both bills mirror the Super Tuesday date Veit's version. Yet, each differs in the other provisions layered into them. Rep. Peggy McGaugh's (R-7th, Carrollton) HB 1871 brings the presidential primary back but also touches on absentee voting, voter ID, the casting provisional ballots and the testing of election equipment in a bill that closely resembles one of the two bills on the Senate side. And Rep. Brad Banderman's (R-119th, St. Clair) HB 2387 looks a lot like Veit's bill, although both differ in how widely each opens the in-person absentee voting window. 

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Noteworthy: Counting the two presidential primary bills in the state Senate, there are now five total bills that will be active during the 2026 legislative session in Missouri. And that is just to start. More could come once business is gaveled in next month. Regardless, that is a number of legislative vehicles that could ultimately resurrect the presidential primary in the Show-Me state. 

Granted, that shotgun method of multiple bills has not proven successful in the time since the Missouri legislature eliminated the state-run presidential primary option in 2022. The five bills proposed in 2023 all failed. The five presidential primary-related bills in 2024 also failed to move. Only Veit's 2025 measure -- one of four total bills during the last session -- managed to pass the chamber in which it was introduced. But it did not move out of committee in the upper chamber in the waning moments of the session. 

Having a number of options, it seems, does not guarantee success. But in 2026, there will again be a number of options before legislators in Jefferson City to bring back a presidential primary to Missouri.

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See also: 

12/10/25: Missouri Senate bills prefiled to reinstate presidential primary

1/28/26: "House committee kills plan to reinstate Missouri presidential primary"

2/3/26: Another one bites the dust: Missouri Senate bill stripped of provision to reestablish a presidential primary

3/5/26: Missouri House Elections Committee reports amended Super Tuesday primary bill "do pass"

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The Annotated 2028 Presidential Primary Calendar

Tracking the evolution of the timeline of delegate selection events that will determine the next presidential nominees

Missouri Senate bills prefiled to reinstate presidential primary

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. 

Missouri state Senator David Gregory (R-15th, St. Louis) has prefiled legislation -- SB 1139 -- in the upper chamber to reestablish the presidential primary election in the Show-Me state. The bill is exactly the same as the legislation the senator filed in February 2025 to bring back the primary that was eliminated by an act of the legislature in 2022. 

Here is an edited FHQ summary of the early 2025 legislation:

[L]egislation has also been introduced in the Missouri state Senate to bring back the state-funded presidential preference election eliminated by the General Assembly in 2022. SB 670, introduced by Senator David Gregory (R-15th, St. Louis), would basically reset conditions to where they were with respect to the parameters of the presidential primary prior to 2022. That is to say that the primary election would revert to a position on the presidential primary calendar following Super Tuesday. 

However, Gregory's SB 670 would schedule the presidential preference election for the second Tuesday in March as opposed to the second Tuesday after the first Monday in March as was the case prior to 2022. 

That is a small difference and would not have any impact on the positioning of any Missouri presidential primary reinstated under this bill for 2028. 

Efforts to reestablish the primary prior to this latest bill have fallen short since 2022, often victims of the logistics of scheduling the presidential primary either concurrent with or in addition to primaries for other offices. Several possible proposed dates have emerged because of that: Super Tuesday, the week after Super Tuesday or the first Tuesday in April (alongside local primaries). None of them have passed muster with a majority of both the Missouri House and Senate. 

Perhaps 2026 will be the year.

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Noteworthy: Gregory's is not the only active legislation in the upper chamber dealing with the reinstatement of a presidential primary election in the Show-Me state. In fact, his was not even the first presidential primary legislation to be pre-filed in the state Senate. That honor belonged to Sen. Sandy Crawford (R-28th, Buffalo), who pre-filed SB 836 on December 1. 

Her bill would not only bring back the presidential primary but it would schedule the election for Super Tuesday, the first Tuesday in March. However, that is but one facet of what is a minibus elections bill touching on absentee voting, voter ID, the casting provisional ballots and the testing of election equipment. 

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See also: 

12/18/25: Missouri House again tees up host of bills to resurrect the defunct Show-Me state presidential primary

1/28/26: "House committee kills plan to reinstate Missouri presidential primary"

2/3/26: Another one bites the dust: Missouri Senate bill stripped of provision to reestablish a presidential primary

3/5/26: Missouri House Elections Committee reports amended Super Tuesday primary bill "do pass"

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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

The Annotated 2028 Presidential Primary Calendar

Tracking the evolution of the timeline of delegate selection events that will determine the next presidential nominees

"New York lawmakers aim to move 2028 primaries up to Super Tuesday"

Edward-Isaac Dovere at CNN has the latest 2028 calendar news from Albany:

"James Skoufis, a New York state senator who previously ran for Democratic National Committee chair, told CNN he will introduce a bill Thursday to move the Empire State’s 2028 presidential primary to Super Tuesday, traditionally the first time a large batch of states votes on the same day and often the day that presidential front-runners separate themselves from the also-rans.

"Skoufis has already lined up what he believes will grow into enough support to pass. His proposal has the potential to reshape the next White House race for Democrats, who would need to put together larger-scale campaigns early, given the size and diversity of New York’s electorate and the expense of the state’s media markets."

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Noteworthy: The New York primary was a Super Tuesday regular from 2000-2008, even moving up to the at-the-time new February Super Tuesday for 2008. When both parties restricted February primaries for 2012, New York legislators moved to the current protocol they have used in every cycle since. Basically that has entailed leaving the primary in February until June-ish of the year prior to a presidential election at which time the legislature (in coordination with both state parties) sets the date and the delegate allocation rules for the cycle. The date of the primary then reverts to February at the end of the presidential election year and the process starts all over again. 

Skoufis' proposed legislation would break from that established post-2008 protocol. 

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New York? On Super Tuesday?

It has happened before and history may repeat itself in 2028. What are the implications?