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."

...

"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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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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Thursday, April 30, 2026

Rhode Island House passes Super Tuesday presidential primary bill

Without any debate, the Rhode Island House took up and unanimously passed H 7090 on Thursday, April 30. The 62-0 vote by the members of the lower chamber would shift the presidential primary in the Ocean state from the fourth Tuesday in April to the first Tuesday in March, Super Tuesday. 

The measure now advances to the state Senate where identical legislation has also been introduced and considered in committee.

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Noteworthy: A few things on this potential change in Rhode Island:
  1. As the committee chair who introduced the H 7090 on the floor noted before passage, a Super Tuesday primary would align Rhode Island with most of its New England area neighbors on the primary calendar. Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont are all already positioned on Super Tuesday. New Hampshire will continue to be an exception with an earlier primary and Connecticut has yet to make any move to join the others in March for 2028.
  2. Rhode Island has not been a part of Super Tuesday since 2004. The state was one of the rare few who did not move into February to join the Super Tuesday logjam in 2008 and then moved back into April alongside a number of neighbors for 2012. It has remained on the back half of the primary calendar ever since. [One could argue that Rhode Island was not on Super Tuesday in 2004. It was a cycle in which Democrats allowed February contests and while some states took advantage of the rule change, the biggest shift to the earlier point did not occur until 2008. The effect in 2004 was to make the early March Super Tuesday a bit less crowded -- a bit less super -- and the overall calendar less frontloaded than was the case in 2000. Still, the most delegates of the 2004 cycle were at stake on the first Tuesday in March.]
  3. Other chambers have passed presidential primary legislation across the country during this 2026 legislative session, but most have died along the way. Rhode Island actually shows some signs of momentum on this front. The list of legislative backers in both chambers in Providence means H 7090 will likely face a favorable audience in the upper chamber. And the unanimous vote in the House likely will not hamper that progress. 

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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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Wednesday, April 29, 2026

"Missouri Senate committee debates plan to reinstate presidential primary for 2028"


"Missouri would join at least 14 other states with a 'Super Tuesday' presidential primary in 2028 under a bill that would also bind the state’s delegate on the first ballot at national political conventions.

"During testimony Monday to the state Senate Local Government, Elections and Pensions Committee, leaders of the state’s two largest political parties agreed that restoring the primary would increase participation and elevate the state’s national political profile.

“'In 2024 we received just a ton of complaints from probably every legislative district in the state because we only got about 23,000 people participating' in the caucuses that replaced the primary, said Miles Ross, executive director of the Missouri Republican Party.

"The Democratic Party held a private primary in 2024 with voting confined to a Saturday morning. Holding a state-run primary on the first day the two major parties will recognize as valid would attract candidates and money to the state, said Russ Carnahan, chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party.

“'We’d like Missouri to be relevant again,' Carnahan said.

"The committee did not vote on the bill. State Sen. Mike Henderson, a Republican from Desloge and chairman of the committee, said after the meeting that he was uncertain when, or if, he would bring the bill up for a vote."


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Noteworthy: Look, FHQ listened to this hearing live. To call it a debate is misleading. To call it a debate among the members of the committee is just plain wrong. In fact, the only commentary from the members of the Local Government, Elections and Pensions Committee other the instructions from the chair was from a Republican senator asking a follow up of Miles Ross, the state GOP executive director. And that certainly did not spur a lively back and forth.

To the extent there was a "debate," it was among the folks testifying for and against the measure to restore the state-run presidential primary in the Show-Me state. And that functioned more as a Cliff's Notes version of the discussions on the House side in committee. Monday's hearing was as close to a non-event as it could get. 

But there are a few things to take from this latest hearing for HB 2387/2480:
  1. The Senate finally acted on the bill, more than two weeks after the House passed it.
  2. Importantly, the chair of the committee was noncommittal about ever bringing up the legislation for a vote (to clear it for consideration on the floor). 
  3. There is little more than two weeks left in the 2026 session of the Missouri General Assembly. The last day is slated for May 15. 
Relatedly, this is not the only presidential primary bill to make its way out of the House only to be stymied in the state Senate. A provision to restore the primary was part of a mini-bus elections bill in 2025 that was in the queue in committee on the Senate side on the final day of the session, but was not acted upon.

This latest version, which addresses many of the problems that have derailed past efforts (binding of delegates, etc.), may meet the same fate in Jefferson City. 



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Thursday, April 9, 2026

Missouri House passes Super Tuesday presidential primary bill

During the morning session of Thursday, April 9, the Missouri House took up for a third reading and passed HB 2387/2480 by a vote of 116-23.1 The measure would reestablish a state-run presidential primary in the Show-Me state, schedule the election for the first Tuesday in March (Super Tuesday) and proportionally bind the delegates from the state to the national convention based on the results of the preference vote. 

The legislation now moves on to the state Senate where the upper chamber will have a little more than a month to consider it before the General Assembly adjourns on May 15.


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Noteworthy: In some ways this is déjà vu all over again in Jefferson City. The House passed legislation to restore the presidential primary in 2025 only to see the bill die in committee on the Senate side at adjournment. 

The 2026 version may yet meet the same fate. But 2026 is different for a couple reasons. First, the legislation from previous sessions in 2023, 2024 and 2025 offered different paths to resolution and/or were part of broader elections bills encompassing factors outside of the presidential primary as well. If that combination did not slow things down in the House first, it weighed heavily on the Senate's consideration, typically late into the session.

Second, while the progress on HB 2387/2480 was perhaps slow through committee process, reinstituting the presidential primary was not controversial on the floor during either the amendment phase or later upon passage. That maybe has something to do with the newly added language binding the delegates, a sticking point in consideration of past iterations of this legislation. But the measure being focused on the presidential primary and the presidential primary alone may also have contributed to the general lack of controversy. 

Together, that may or may not pay dividends as the bill shifts over to the Senate. But the path has been different this time in the House, it also has buy in from both state parties and the binding language checks out with the national parties. It is likely the best bet to restore the primary in Missouri since omnibus elections legislation eliminated the election in 2022. 

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1Of the votes in opposition, 22 of the 23 were Republicans, roughly a fifth of the current Republican majority in the lower chamber. 


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Wednesday, April 8, 2026

Idaho's 2026 legislative session draws to a close, killing bids to restore presidential primary

Last week, after missing the target date for adjournment at the end of March and running into overtime, the Idaho legislature gaveled out its 2026 session. Among the bills left in committee in those final days were the three measures that sought to restore the state-funded presidential primary election to the Gem state. 

Two of the three -- H 638 and S 1398 -- not only made it out of committee but passed their respective chambers. There was interest in reestablishing the presidential primary, but there was no urgency this far out to bring that to fruition. Nor was there an ability -- again, this far out -- to resolve the impasse between the two chambers' versions of the legislation, the same impasse the derailed the efforts to restore the presidential primary accidentally eliminated in 2023. 

Now that both versions are dead again in 2026, it is not bills that one should focus on should a similar push be mounted in 2027, but on this impasse itself. If Idaho is to have a presidential primary again, a decision will have to be made as to whether it will exist as a standalone election earlier in the presidential primary calendar -- Super Tuesday has been targeted -- or as a preference election consolidated with the primaries for other offices sometime in May. 


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Noteworthy: The Idaho Republican Party and the state House seem to prefer the Super Tuesday option while the Senate has seemingly prioritized the cost savings associated with a consolidated primary. Neither side prefers the much lower turnout in alternative caucuses. That is the primary reason the secretary of state has supported the reinstitution of the state-run primary. To this point, however, Secretary McGrane has not supported one version of presidential primary legislation over the other. Whether McGrane comes off the fence in 2027 to support one version may or may not play some role in breaking the stalemate. 


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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, April 7, 2026

Missouri House clears Super Tuesday presidential primary bill for final passage

The Missouri House on Tuesday, April 7, 2026 took up HB 2387/2480 for perfection (amendment) and after amending the title passed the measure on a voice vote, clearing it for a final vote by the body. 

The legislation would not only restore the presidential primary eliminated in 2022, but schedule the state-funded election to take place on Super Tuesday -- the first Tuesday in March -- and bind the delegates to the national convention based on the results. The latter has been a sticking point for detractors during consideration of similar legislation stretching back to 2023.

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Noteworthy: While some initial Republican opponents on the Election Committee spoke in favor of the legislation on the House floor, that may or may not carry weight with the remainder of the chamber on the future vote on passage. These presidential primary bills have passed the Missouri House in the past only to be stymied once they got to the state Senate. The battle, then, may be less intra-chamber than inter-chamber as the 2026 session in Jefferson City draws to a close. 



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"Rhode Island primary election day could change in 2026 and 2028. Here's why."


"Should Rhode Island move the date of its presidential primary again?

"Given how many people at the State House are lining up behind this latest effort to make Lil' Rhody more relevant in the presidential sweepstakes, it's a good bet Rhode Island will join the states that vote on 'Super Tuesday' in 2028.

"Who is supporting the move? The House speaker, the past and present state Democratic Party chairs and, in a rare display of agreement on a matter of Rhode Island politics, the chairman of the state Republican Party.

"There are a few naysayers. But the bill, H7090, came flying out of the House Committee on State Government & Elections on a 12-to-0 vote on March 31 and is headed for a full House debate and vote as soon as this week."


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Noteworthy: A few things here:
  1. In a year when most presidential primary bills -- the ones to changes the dates of the contests anyway -- are withering on the vine, there does actually seem to be some momentum behind the push in Providence. As noted above, the House version has a number of notable folks in and out of the lower chamber lined up behind it. But that is also true of the identical companion bill in the state Senate. Leadership there is also in favor of the primary date change.
  2. Gregg's article goes on to discuss arguments for and against moving the Rhode Island primary. Proponents of the move to an earlier position point to the oft-raised notion of increased attention -- candidate visits to the state! -- and turnout that a later primary just did not deliver. Alternatively, as Providence College political scientist Adam Myers suggested: "If anything, we might become even more overshadowed [on Super Tuesday] in the process than we have been in recent cycles." True!
  3. Rhode Island is damed if they do, damned if they don't. The state is simply too small -- not delegate-rich enough -- to stand much chance of garnering any direct attention no matter where the primary is scheduled. The one thing that a move to Super Tuesday would ensure for 2028 is that voters in the Ocean state would be able to weigh in on who the nominees are before the races are likely settled.
  4. Gregg also notes that turnout was just 5 percent in the April 2024 presidential primary when Rhode Island followed contests in 26 other states. The point of comparison? 2008, when there was record turnout in the early March primary. ...you know, when the Rhode Island primary came after primaries and caucuses in 40 other states. Of course the timing of a primary matters. But competition can matter more to turnout. A move to Super Tuesday for 2028 makes it more likely that there is some remaining [viable] competition for one or both nomination races. 

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Related:


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

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Monday, April 6, 2026

"New Hampshire Democrats prepare to make case for first-in-the-nation primary status"


"The New Hampshire primary is facing a critical test in the weeks ahead as state Democrats prepare to make their case to the Democratic National Committee to restore the Granite State's first-in-the-nation status on their presidential nominating calendar."

...

"In an interview for 'CloseUp,' New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley said he's feeling positive about the DNC process so far.

"'Obviously, there was a thumb that was put on the process last time. We thought we were in good position,' Buckley said. 'This time, there's no thumb on what the final decisions are going to be. We have made an effort. We're meeting with them individually.'

"Buckley said he expects a final vote on the DNC primary calendar sometime toward the end of the summer."


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Noteworthy: In an additional video post, Sexton revealed that the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee (DNCRBC) next will meet this week and will hear pitches from the 12 states being considered for early window spots in May. A May 2026 DNCRBC meeting for 2028 early state pitches would be about a month earlier than a similar meeting during the 2024 cycle. 

Chair Buckley, also a DNCRBC member, forecasting a finalizing of the 2028 early calendar by late summer would seemingly suggest either little shake up to the early calendar lineup from 2024 for 2028 or that any change is likely to be driven largely by the blue state parties that applied for early calendar status. Purple and red states will likely face uncertainty over their ability to move into position until the midterms provide further clarity. 


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Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Super Tuesday presidential primary bill gets the green light from second Missouri House committee

Late last week, the Missouri House Rules (Legislative) Committee voted 8-4 in favor of legislation restoring a presidential primary election in the Show-Me state. That measure, HB 2387/2480, was subsequently reported out of that committee at the end of March with a "do pass" recommendation from the panel. 

This bill would not only reestablish a state-run presidential primary in Missouri, but would also schedule the election for Super Tuesday and legally bind the allocation and selection of delegates to the national convention based on the results of the primary. 

The second committee should clear the bill for consideration by the full Missouri House (if the body opts to bring it up).

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Noteworthy: Interestingly, the Rules Committee vote on HB 2387/2480 was largely along party lines. Eight of the nine Republicans on the panel voted in favor while the three Democrats were joined by the committee's Republican vice chair in opposition. That is a partisan reversal of sorts as all three Democrats present for the Elections Committee vote earlier in the month supported the amended measure. One representative, Rep. Keri Ingle (D-35th, Lee's Summit), even flipped from supporting the amended version in Elections to voting against in Rules. The bill was not further amended in Rules. The second panel passed the same version that made it out of Elections.



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Friday, March 27, 2026

Idaho Senate passes May presidential primary bill

The Idaho Senate on Wednesday, March 25 passed S 1398. The measure would restore the state-funded presidential primary and consolidate it with other primaries in the Gem state on the Tuesday after the first Monday in May. 

In a 23-10 vote, all six Democratic senators joined most of the majority Republican caucus, including the leadership, in voting for the legislation. Ten junior Republican senators -- all either in their first or second terms in the upper chamber -- peeled off the majority in opposition. 


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Noteworthy: At first blush, the Senate's passage of S 1398 would seemingly set up an impasse with the Idaho House. The lower chamber earlier in the 2026 session backed a measure that would also reestablish the presidential primary, but do so as a standalone election scheduled earlier in the year on Super Tuesday. That legislation came to the Senate before S 1398 was introduced.

That difference across chambers is important in light of the fact that the legislature in Boise is winding down its work for the session. The target date to adjourn sine die is Friday, March 27 (today), but the House is likely to carry its business over into the weekend and the Senate's work is likely to push into next week.

With the clock ticking, the presidential primary -- either conception of it -- may or may not be a priority. And reconciling the two versions may not be possible. 


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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, March 25, 2026

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


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Posted by Josh Putnam at 4:00 PM 0 comments
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Thursday, March 19, 2026

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


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Posted by Josh Putnam at 1:30 PM 0 comments
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Tuesday, March 10, 2026

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


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Posted by Josh Putnam at 10:00 AM 0 comments
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Thursday, March 5, 2026

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. 

Update (4/7/26): During the amendment phase for HB 2387/2480 on the House floor, Ranking Minority member Rep. LaKeySha Bosley (D-79th, St. Louis), noted that Democrats' opposition to the bill was due to an oversight, confusing it with other elections-related legislation. In further comments on the floor, the representative backed the bill and urged the House to support the measure.



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