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presidential nomination process in the Gem state to the way things were for 2020 before the presidential primary was repealed in 2023.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"

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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 2028 Annotated 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

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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 2028 Presidential Primary Calendar Plus 

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

Nevada Democrats respond to questions raised at January DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting

In a letter dated March 2, 2026, the Nevada Democratic Party has responded to questions posed by DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee members at the panel's January 31 meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Questions there ranged from those specific to the bid of Democrats in the Silver state for an early calendar spot in 2028 and broader questions the committee had for all early state applicants. 

The letter:

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Noteworthy: Look, Nevada Democrats have a strong case for an early slot on the 2028 Democratic presidential primary calendar, if not the first spot (for which the state party is aiming). 

The primary is already early. [The inclusion of Nevada's primary could be a part of a path of least resistance for the DNC.]

The electorate is diverse on a number of fronts that could be perceived as helpful to the national party's general election efforts.

What potentially hurts Nevada Democrats' cause -- more so vying for the first-in-the-nation honor rather than merely being included in the early window -- are factors that are outside of the state party's control. 

Fair or not, Nevada cannot change the fact that it is in the Pacific time zone. Democrats there can lean into that as the party has in the letter above, making the case that being west coast-adjacent is another diversity box that Nevada's primary checks. 

And while changes could be made to election administration to help expedite vote counting in particular, with a Republican in the governor's mansion in Carson City, such changes are less likely than if a Democrat held that office. Still, in the face of arguments that have already been raised in RBC meetings about the calendar that Nevada may struggle to count primary votes in a timely manner, the state party has responded thusly...

With universal vote by mail, seven days of in-person early voting, county-wide Election Day vote centers, automatic voter registration, same-day registration, and a ballot cure process, Nevada has some of the most progressive voter access laws in the country. As Nevada’s voting preferences have shifted from in-person early voting to voting by mail, changes have been adopted to expedite the tabulation and reporting of votes at the county level. County election offices are now able to begin counting mail and dropbox ballots beginning 15 days prior to election day. Upon the close of polls on Election Day, counties will report all mail, dropbox, and in-person early vote totals received prior to Election Day, followed by Election Day in-person totals, and any mail or dropbox ballots received on Election Day. Given the smaller voter universe relative to the general election and the limited scope of the presidential primary ballot, this process will be expeditious.

Left unanswered is whether and how these new measures have been stress tested. FHQ is not suggesting that they have not, but they certainly have not been tested under the intense spotlight of a presidential nomination race, especially if Nevada ended up with the first sanctioned primary on the Democratic side. That will not change between now and 2028, but Nevada Democrats can come armed with data from the midterm primaries in June and perhaps the general election in November if the Rules and Bylaws Committee has yet to finalize the party's early calendar lineup by that point in time. That may additionally aid in allaying any lingering fears members of the panel may have.

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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

Some additional thoughts on the Democrats' recent 2028 primary calendar meeting 

Learning, incentives, appearance versus reality and the limits of the national parties in calendar crafting

"Pete Buttigieg stays out of fight over NH primary"

Former Transportation secretary and Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg was in New Hampshire late last on the hustings for Democrats running for office this year in the Granite state. Adam Sexton at WMUR out of Manchester got the secretary on record about New Hampshire's place in the national party's plans for an early calendar lineup for 2028:

Sexton: 

You were very diplomatic during the administration in terms of the debates at the DNC about New Hampshire first-in-the-nation status. The Granite state wants it back now. Are you going to be on New Hampshire's side and say New Hampshire should go first? 

Buttigieg:

I respect that I am not one of the people who gets to make the rules or make those decisions. What I will say is that campaigning in New Hampshire made me, I think, a better public servant. The conversations that I had, the way that the size, the scale and the civic spirit of the state really forces people on the national stage to stop and pay attention to things on a more immediate human scale. I think that’s a very healthy thing to have in our politics."

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Noteworthy: Look, clearly I fell prey to the headline to this one. There really is not a whole lot there. Buttigieg was, to borrow Sexton's word, diplomatic in response to the question about being on "New Hampshire's side" in the 2028 calendar discussions. And not to make a mountain out of a molehill, but a couple of things:

1. Buttigieg's nonresponse is, in and of itself, notable. It may have been missing in 2024, but one does not have to go very far back in time before that to find ample evidence of candidates falling over themselves to defend New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation status while campaigning there. Buttigieg did not, well, pander in his brief answer to Sexton's question. Instead, he deferred to the process the DNC has laid out for deciding on the early calendar for 2028. The DNC may not have kept New Hampshire from being the (unsanctioned) first contest in 2024 and it may not have kept all candidates out of the state then, but the change in process has kept candidates -- candidate, singular, I suppose -- from reflexively defending New Hampshire traditional status. And again, that is a noteworthy change.
2. Note also that Buttigieg plays up the virtues of retail politics, and specifically how the New Hampshire primary fills that role (or did so during his time campaigning there during the 2020 cycle). That is something that is a plank in the Rules and Bylaws Committee's criteria for the states vying for early 2028 slots on the calendar (see Section III of the Request for Proposals). However, at least some folks on the committee are questioning the value of in-primary-season retail politics in an ever-changing presidential nomination campaign landscape. How the committee deals with that will go a long way toward determining New Hampshire's place in the early part of the 2028 calendar. 

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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

Some additional thoughts on the Democrats' recent 2028 primary calendar meeting 

Learning, incentives, appearance versus reality and the limits of the national parties in calendar crafting

"S. Carolina Dems deploy Biden as they seek early primary"

Alex Thompson at Axios looks into the latest twist in the South Carolina Democrats' efforts to retain first-in-the-nation status for 2028:

"South Carolina Democrats are enlisting former President Biden to try to save the state's place as the first contest in the party's next presidential primary."

"Christale Spain, chair of South Carolina's Democratic Party, has been inviting members of the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee to the Biden reception as part of the lobbying effort.

"'This intimate gathering offers a rare opportunity to spend time with the former president,' Spain wrote to one committee member."

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Noteworthy: It really is not clear at this point whether Biden inserting himself -- or being inserted by South Carolina Democrats -- will help sway members of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee as the panel continues to consider the states that will make up the party's early state line up on the 2028 presidential primary calendar. An argument could be made that it may prove persuasive to some members of the committee and backfire with others. 

Biden or not, the biggest feather Palmetto state Democrats have in their caps for the 2028 calendar process is the fact that the South Carolina presidential primary remains among the most, if not the most, mobile piece on the calendar board. The state funds and runs the primary but the state parties decide the date on which the election will fall. Importantly, any decision does not have to go through any state legislature or any other state governmental office first. 

The South Carolina primary, then, could be easily moved into any early position, including first-in-the-nation, or could just as easily be moved out of the early lineup altogether. But as of now, while there is a lot of competition from states vying to be the southern state with some representation on the early calendar, few yet have the ability to get into position that South Carolina Democrats have.

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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

Now we know which states they are looking at 

Some thoughts on the 2028 Democratic primary calendar process now that the deadline for state parties to apply with the DNC has come and gone

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

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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 2028 Presidential Primary Calendar Plus 

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 2028 Presidential Primary Calendar Plus 

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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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

The 2028 Presidential Primary Calendar Plus 

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

Third time's the charm for February West Virginia presidential primary?

For the third year running, West Virginia state House Delegate Michael Hite (R-92nd, Berkeley) has introduced legislation in Charleston to establish a separate presidential primary in the Mountain state and schedule the election for the third Tuesday in February (in 2028, February 16). 

Neither of the previous two efforts in 2024 or 2025 gained any traction and the latest attempt is likely to meet the same end. Regardless of any other points of dispute on this particular measure, the proposed date in HB 4751 would at the very least put the West Virginia primary in violation of national party delegate selection rules for both parties. Such a move would cost Mountain state Republicans slightly more than half of their delegation after the RNC's super penalty knocked the number of delegates down to twelve. And West Virginia Democrats would face an initial 50 percent penalty on their delegation under DNC rules. That could potentially rise to a full one hundred percent penalty or fall away to nothing. In the latter instance, West Virginia Democrats could make a case to the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee for a waiver based on the primary date change being made by a Republican-sponsored bill with seven Republican co-sponsors in addition to Republicans holding down unified control of state government. 

However, that is definitely putting the cart before the horse. This legislation would have to show some progress where the similar previous legislation died before this gets anywhere close to a discussion of penalties and waivers. And there is no indication yet that 2026 will be any different in Charleston than the past two have been for the scheduling of the presidential primary. 

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Noteworthy: One area where this bill is silent is on the matter of the fiscal impact. What would it cost the state to fund and conduct a February presidential primary separate from the primaries for other offices that it has customarily been concurrent with in mid-May in most post-reform presidential nomination cycles. Price tags of separate primary elections have been a bridge too far in other Republican-controlled states in recent cycles. 

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 2028 Presidential Primary Calendar Plus 

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