Thursday, June 11, 2026

Rhode Island Senate committee tees up concurrence vote on Super Tuesday presidential primary bill

The Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee quickly took up and, without debate, signed off on H 7090 on Tuesday, June 9. That House-passed measure aims to move the presidential primary in the Ocean state from the fourth Tuesday in April up to the first Tuesday in March, Super Tuesday. The panel recommended that the upper chamber concur with the House on the legislation.

The bill now heads to the Senate floor where it is up for consideration on the consent calendar for Thursday, June 11.


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Noteworthy: After a quiet 2026 in terms of primary calendar movement ahead of 2028, Rhode Island has inched up to the precipice of becoming the first state to move (via legislative action) this year. 

The move, if it comes to fruition, would schedule the Rhode Island presidential primary back on the first Tuesday in March for the first time since 2008 and back on Super Tuesday for the first time since 2004.

The Senate version of the legislation passed the upper chamber last week.

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Related:


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

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Thursday, June 4, 2026

Super Tuesday presidential primary bill unanimously passes Rhode Island Senate

With the clocking winding down on the 2026 session the Rhode Island Senate ran through a lost list of legislation rapid fire on Thursday, June 4. Among the bills addressed, the upper chamber in the Ocean state took up and without debate unanimously passed -- 37-0 -- a measure to shift the presidential primary to Super Tuesday starting in 2028. S 2491 would move the Rhode Island presidential primary from the fourth Tuesday in April to the first Tuesday in March, Super Tuesday.


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Noteworthy: Separate bills with identical language have now navigated through their respective chambers of origin. The House version passed at the end of April and has been in the Senate since early May. The session adjourns on June 30.


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Related:


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

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Rhode Island Senate committee advances Super Tuesday presidential primary bill

On Tuesday, June 2, the Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee positively reported S 2491, the upper chamber's companion bill intended to shift the presidential primary in the Ocean state from the end of April to Super Tuesday in early March. The measure was advanced without debate and only one dissent in the committee's voice vote. 


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Noteworthy: As the Senate version of the Super Tuesday bill had previously had a hearing in Judiciary, the panel opted to take it up in executive session rather than start the process anew with the identical House-passed version in the waning days of the legislative session in Providence. S 2491 is on the calendar for consideration by the full Senate on Thursday, June 4.



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Related:


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

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Thursday, May 28, 2026

"Republicans are gutting southern Dem districts. Dems might front-load the South in its 2028 primaries to respond."


"Democrats are weighing whether they can use their 2028 primary calendar to try to rebuild their party’s strength in the South amid aggressive GOP gerrymanders.

"As Democratic National Committee members meet in D.C. this week to discuss which states will lead the next presidential nominating contest, the GOP push to dismantle majority-Black districts and dilute Democrats’ power across the South is ratcheting up the selection stakes. Some members are now advocating for two southern states to make the cut as the Callais ruling adds fresh urgency to Democrats’ long-running debate over how to amplify the voices of Black voters who have long been the party’s backbone."


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Noteworthy: A couple of thoughts about this...
  1. Even before the Callais decision came down, it was true that approaching a majority of the states -- five of 12 -- that applied for a waiver from the Rules and Bylaws Committee (RBC) to hold an early contest in 2028 were from the south. That has not changed following the decision. As I said at our sister site, FHQ Plus back in January: "The only other mysteries are if there will be a fifth state and which state that may be. The overrepresentation of southern states in the pool may give the region an advantage in claiming a second spot among the would-be five early states. Granted, that is far from guaranteed." Post-Callais, that overrepresentation of the South positions the DNC to make a statement with the calendar. [Side note: Bear in mind also that the DNC attempted to get two southern states into the early window for 2024 as well.]
  2. As a counterpoint, however, look at the 2028 presidential primary calendar and consider the southern states that have applied for early state status...
    • North Carolina? Super Tuesday.
    • Tennessee? Super Tuesday.
    • Virginia? Super Tuesday.
    • Georgia? Regardless of the partisan affiliation of the next Secretary of State in the Peach state, they can easily -- and without penalty from either party -- set a Super Tuesday date for the Georgia primary. 
    • And hey, throw in Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas? All Super Tuesday primaries.
There is an argument that the calendar is already frontloaded with southern states, a remnant of Republican efforts across the region to create an "SEC primary" ahead of 2016. The only thing that separates those states above from the early window on the 2028 calendar is at most a week and possibly even just a weekend before Super Tuesday. That does not preclude the RBC from granting early state waivers to two southern states, but such a move may or may not be superfluous,given how southern-tinged the front of the calendar already is. 


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"5 Southern Democratic chairs say South Carolina should lead off 2028 presidential primary calendar"


"Democratic leaders in a handful of southern states are lobbying for South Carolina to reprise its role as the party’s first-in-the-nation state to cast primary ballots in 2028, arguing that the state best represents the initial playing field for presidential candidates to build the coalitions needed to win.

"The state party chairs of five Democratic parties wrote a letter Thursday to the Democratic National Committee calling on party leaders 'to do everything in your power to ensure South Carolina continues to serve as the indispensable first proving ground for Democratic presidential nominees.' The DNC is currently debating the order in which states will vote in the next round of presidential primaries.

"The state should hold the first presidential balloting in 2028, they argued, in part because it 'is not simply a geographic starting point. It is a moral and political compass for our party and our nation.'”

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“'The fight for voting rights is no longer just a courtroom battle, it is an electoral one,' the Democratic chairs from Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia wrote in the letter, provided to The Associated Press ahead of its release. 'And it begins in South Carolina.'”


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Noteworthy: There are five states from the south, including South Carolina, that have applied with the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee (RBC) to hold early contests in 2028. The Democrat chairs in all of the other southern states, save Florida and Texas, back the Palmetto state's bid to go not only early but first. It is an endorsement that will likely carry some weight with the members of the RBC, coming from fellow DNC members. 

Now, it may not ultimately prove decisive in this selection process, but this is an endorsement that will not hurt South Carolina Democrats' case for an early slot in 2028. 

And it is worth noting that this sort of endorsement from fellow regional allies is unique so far to the presentation stage of the selection process. No other applicant states have brought forth anything similar in their pitches to the panel.


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Filibuster threat was the undoing of Missouri presidential primary bill

There is one last footnote to the latest failed attempt in Jefferson City to restore the Missouri presidential primary. From Rep. Rudy Veit (R-59th, Wardsville), summing up his work during the 2026 session of the General Assembly to constituents in the local paper:
Unfortunately, my presidential primary bill failed during the final week of session after one senator announced plans to extend floor debate or filibuster the measure, effectively ending any opportunity to move it forward before adjournment. The bill had broad bipartisan support among both Republican and Democratic party organizations and passed overwhelmingly in the House. To be quite honest, the bill has been routinely blocked by individuals who know that they stand to gain from having a closed primary. It seems to me that there is no reason to have a closed presidential primary except to reduce the number of people who are able to participate in the process, particularly people who work, have families, or other commitments. This especially deprives people like our military service members, firefighters, police officers, teachers, and other professionals who cannot easily take off work to go vote in a closed primary. If you see someone opposing an open presidential primary in Missouri, you can safely assume that they want nothing more than to increase their own power and clout at the cost of your ability to participate in our elections.

Ultimately, my position is simple: we should always strive to have a voting system that promotes citizen participation, and that any limitation on when you vote or who you vote for should be scrutinized to the highest degree. Unless limitations on voting are absolutely necessary, such as being able to identify yourself, they should not exist. I do not think this should be controversial in a democratic society.

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Noteworthy: The Missouri Senate has been where these efforts to revive the presidential primary have gone to die. That is, if they make it through the state House. A few bills have managed to navigate through the lower chamber -- and this session's moved the closest to full passage of any of the measures over the last four sessions -- but the Senate continues to be a backstop against the primary efforts. And leaving the primary open remains the final obstacle. The Veit/Banderman bill in 2026 ultimately addressed all of the other concerns that have been raised by opponents in recent years.




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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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Tuesday, May 26, 2026

"Democrats to pitch new-look Iowa Caucuses in bid to go first once more"


"Iowa Democrats will travel to Washington, D.C., this week to pitch a streamlined caucus plan they hope will convince national party leaders that Iowa deserves another shot to be at the front of the presidential nominating calendar."

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"Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart has argued repeatedly that the [DNC Rules and Bylaws] committee should reconsider Iowa as Democrats work to regain ground with rural, working-class voters who have fled the party in droves.

"'In order to do that, we've got to have a state like Iowa where any Democratic presidential candidate can compete, where it's affordable and where the candidates can look forward to getting up close and personal and really understanding the issues that will bring us back to an understanding of working class voters,' Hart told the Des Moines Register."


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Noteworthy: The devil, as always, is in the details.

More will obviously be revealed when the Iowa Democratic delegation makes its case before the RBC this week, but one thing is clear in Pfannenstiel's interview with Chair Hart: The old caucuses are gone. 

There would be no more physical gathering in groups at caucus sites, determining viability (15 percent support) and realigning among viable groups to begin the process of calculating state delegate equivalents for the next steps in the overall caucus/convention process. All of that is out, streamlined and replaced by paper ballots similar to those used in the Iowa Republican presidential caucus process but to be preceded by an absentee voting period in the lead up to the caucus meeting (a carry over from the 2024 Democratic process).

Part the RBC will likely enjoy seeing included: the streamlined process. Anything that appears miles simpler than the 2020 process will go a long way.

Part(s) the RBC may push back on: Not only having a party-run process lead off (or be early on) the 2028 presidential primary calendar, but having a heretofore untested new (albeit simplified) party-run process be a part of the early window. Of the 12 states applying for an early window waiver, only Iowa is proposing a party-run affair. The remaining 11 all have state-run presidential primary elections. 


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Monday, May 18, 2026

The close of the 2026 legislative session kills the latest attempt to restore Missouri's presidential primary

The 2026 session of the Missouri General Assembly adjourned on Friday, May 15. One bill that died in the process was HB 2387/2480, a measure that would have reestablished a state-funded presidential primary in the Show-Me state for the first time since the 2020 cycle.

The legislation passed the state House with broad bipartisan support and made it through the committee stage on the Senate side. However, in the waning days of the session in Jefferson City, the bill was never brought up on the floor of the upper chamber.  

And thus ended another chapter in the ongoing effort to restore the presidential primary election in Missouri.

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Noteworthy: Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. And since the Missouri presidential primary is neither of those, this bill getting further into the legislative process than any of the other measures attempting to restore the primary since the election was eliminated by an act of the General Assembly in 2022, it does not count for much. But the incremental progress across the 2023, 2024, 2025 and now 2026 sessions suggests that 1) there will be another push in 2027 and 2) there is just one more hurdle -- Senate passage -- left to clear in the legislature. 

But the Missouri Senate has proven to be particularly cumbersome obstacle over the last four sessions. That there is just one roadblock left to clear, then, does not speak to the level of resistance among majority Republicans in the upper chamber. And none of this, of course, says anything about how receptive the governor would be to the idea. Both, however, remain a story for 2027. 

[It is unlikely that there is enough urgency to bring the presidential primary up in any special session that may be convened in the interregnum before the 2027 session gavels in in Jefferson City.]  




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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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Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Super Tuesday presidential primary bill clears committee hurdle in Missouri Senate

The reinstatement of Missouri's presidential primary inched one step closer to reality on Wednesday morning, May 6, 2026. The state Senate Fiscal Oversight Committee convened to consider HB 2387/2480 among other bills and unanimously voted (8-0) in favor of the measure with a "do pass" instruction for action on the Senate floor. 


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Noteworthy: This should be the last step at the committee stage on the Senate side, clearing the legislation for consideration by the full Missouri State Senate. It also marks the furthest a presidential primary restoration bill has advanced in the legislative process in Jefferson City since the preference election was eliminated as part of an omnibus elections bill during the 2022 session of the General Assembly.

Despite the $9 million price tag on the resumption of the presidential primary, the bill saw little resistance among the membership of Fiscal Oversight. There was no debate, just the regular parliamentary procedures to raise a bill and then pass it within the hearing. That was it.

The Missouri legislature is due to adjourn next week. 



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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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Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Missouri Senate committee gives Super Tuesday presidential primary bill the thumbs up

The Missouri Senate Local Government, Elections and Pensions Committee convened on Monday, May 4, 2026 and entered executive session to take up and consider a number of bills, including HB 2387/2480. The measure in its amended form would reestablish a state-funded and -run presidential primary election in the Show-Me state, schedule the election for Super Tuesday and legally bind the delegates to the national convention based on the results of the preference vote. 

By a 5-1 vote, the legislation was then passed by the committee with a "do pass" recommendation. Three Republicans were joined by the panel's two Democrats in moving the bill along.


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Noteworthy: The bill will not move directly to the floor for consideration by the full Senate. Instead, it will first divert through the Senate Fiscal Oversight Committee. This may or may not be a formality, but the price tag associated with funding a newly reinstituted election -- estimated at $9 million -- has created snags with similar legislation that has worked its way through the General Assembly in recent sessions and it stands out as perhaps the biggest remaining hurdle for this session's version. 

The largest looming issue remaining is that time on the 2026 session is dwindling. The General Assembly is statutorily required to adjourn by May 15. A year ago, the 2025 session gaveled out with a House-passed elections bill (with presidential primary provision) similarly sitting in the queue in committee on the Senate side. 

Does HB 2387/2480 get bottled up in Fiscal Oversight? The handful of remaining legislative days will determine that. Importantly, four of the yes votes from the Local Government, Elections and Pensions Committee also sit on the nine member Fiscal Oversight Committee.



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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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