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presidential nomination process in the Gem state to the way things were for 2020 before the presidential primary was repealed in 2023.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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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

The 2028 Annotated Presidential Primary Calendar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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See also: 

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

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

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

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

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The 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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The 2028 Annotated Presidential Primary Calendar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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See also:

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

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

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

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The 2028 Annotated Presidential Primary Calendar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Related:

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

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

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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

The 2028 Annotated Presidential Primary Calendar

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

Companion Super Tuesday presidential primary bill working through Kansas Senate

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

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

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

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

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Related: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

The 2028 Annotated Presidential Primary Calendar

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

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 Annotated Presidential Primary Calendar

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

Rhode Island legislation eyeing Super Tuesday presidential primary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

New York? On Super Tuesday? 

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

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

Same story, different chamber. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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See also: 

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

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

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

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

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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

The 2028 Annotated Presidential Primary Calendar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"House committee kills plan to reinstate Missouri presidential primary"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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See also: 

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

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

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

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

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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

The 2028 Annotated Presidential Primary Calendar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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See also: 

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

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

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

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

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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

The 2028 Annotated Presidential Primary Calendar

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

Missouri Senate bills prefiled to reinstate presidential primary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Perhaps 2026 will be the year.

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

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

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See also: 

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

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

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

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

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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

The 2028 Annotated Presidential Primary Calendar

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

"Iowa Democrats split on defying DNC in 2028 presidential calendar fight"

The Des Moines Register's Brianne Pfannenstiel has the summary of the Iowa Democratic Party survey on the 2028 caucuses:

"Most Iowa Democrats who responded to a state party survey want to be in the early voting window when it comes to presidential primaries, but they’re split over whether they should defy national Democrats to make it happen.

"The Iowa Democratic Party’s State Central Committee voted Saturday, Dec. 6, to release the results of a survey the party conducted to gather feedback about the future of its presidential nominating caucuses.

"The results offer insight but no clear consensus for a party that is continuing to grapple with the fallout of major shifts in the national presidential nominating calendar."

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Survey of 750 Iowa Democrats (results):

Timing of the Iowa caucuses

Iowa should go first: 

44.7 percent

Iowa should go early: 

20.6 percent

Iowa should go on Super Tuesday (or later): 

12.6 percent

Don't care (where Iowa is on the 2028 calendar): 

22 percent

Following DNC timing rules

Work within the early state selection rules and accept the DNC's decision on timing (even if Iowa is not early): 

51.1 percent

Work within the rules but flout them if Iowa is not granted a waiver for an early contest: 

34.4 percent

Go rogue without regard for the decisions on Iowa's scheduling at the DNC level: 

14.4 percent

...

Noteworthy: The state central committee also voted at its December 6 meeting to not surprisingly move forward in the DNC's early state selection process. Those waiver proposals -- state party cases for why their contest should be early in the 2028 Democratic presidential primary calendar -- are due to the Rules and Bylaws Committee by January 16. 

The split results on the two questions above will not necessarily make it any easier for the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) either in the state or with the national party. It is not the united, near-consensus front IDP Chair Rita Hart would otherwise like to present to the DNC and it means that no matter what the state party opts to do for 2028 with respect to the caucuses, that some sizable enough faction is going to be less than happy with the direction the party chooses. 

--

Much more on the results to the survey from on the ground in Iowa from John Deeth.

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Related at FHQ Plus (subscription)...

How long will Democratic presidential contenders keep going to Iowa? 

Possible 2028 Democrats keep trekking to the Hawkeye state but those visits aren't guaranteed to last. Here's why.

[From FHQ Plus] A second state-run primary option in New Hampshire?

The following is cross-posted from FHQ Plus, FHQ's subscription newsletter. Come check the rest out and consider a paid subscription to unlock the full site and support our work. 

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From A second state-run primary option in New Hampshire?:

Talk about burying the lede. This came in over the wires from NBC News this morning...

New Hampshire Republicans would prefer to keep their primary in late January, after Iowa, rather than see [New Hampshire Secretary of State David] Scanlan have to leapfrog Iowa because of Democrats’ maneuvering. Republican state Rep. Ross Berry, who chairs the House Election Law Committee, said he is considering “contingencies” that might prevent that.

Berry said he is considering introducing legislation that would allow Scanlan to set two different primary dates, one for each party. He called it a “last resort option” that would give Scanlan a new tool if he makes the determination that Iowa’s Democratic caucus is functionally the same as a primary.

“We don’t want to get caught flat-footed on it,” Berry said. “If the secretary of state says, ‘You know what, I’m cool with Iowa mailing in their stuff,’ we have no problem, I see no reason to change things,” he continued.

The rest of the piece is standard fare for stories covering the back and forth over the calendar between Iowa Democrats and the New Hampshire secretary of state. It builds up the tension that seemingly exists without getting too far down into the weeds to explain that there probably is not much tension there at all. As the piece notes, it is not unusual for New Hampshire to string this decision out. Long-time and former Secretary Gardner pulled the trigger on a choice for 2008 the day before Thanksgiving in 2007 and waited into November again in 2011. In both cases, a decision was made roughly two months before January primaries in both cycles. Regardless of the timing of a decision from Scanlan, the choice boils down to answering one simple question. And Iowa Democrats are not showing their cards at the moment (even if the state party's actions seem to tip their hand).

But still, even if the early state calendar tension is on a low simmer (at most), the notion that there is a proposal for an emergency legislative fix in the Granite state is newsworthy. Well, it is newsworthy on the surface anyway.

Digging in a bit, creating an option for the secretary of state to schedule a second presidential primary would bail out Democrats currently at odds with the national party over the DNC’s new calendar rules for the 2024 cycle. That New Hampshire Republicans would even consider that is enough to raise eyebrows. And that is without considering the costs associated with a second state-run presidential primary election. The state footing the bill for that is one thing that is almost unbelievable, but creating a carve-out for (what some perceive as) Democrats’ collective own-goal in a battleground state would seem to be a bridge to far for Republicans in control of the levers of power in the state.

But it also goes to show just how far at least one Republican is willing to go to preserve the first-in-the-nation tradition in the Granite state.

Of course, none of this appears necessary at the moment. There are questions surrounding the scheduling of the all-mail Iowa Democratic presidential preference vote. [The Democratic caucuses will be on January 15.] But why would Iowa Democrats go to the trouble of devising this bifurcated caucus/preference vote process in an incumbent cycle if they were just going to break the rules. The system is one that allows Iowa Democrats to have their cake and hopefully (from their perspective) eat it too. The caucuses will remain first (the same night as Iowa Republicans), but the delegate allocation (through the preference vote) can conclude later than that at a time that is either in the Democrats’ early window (with a waiver from the DNC) or on or after March 5. It is a system designed to preserve tradition and comply with DNC rules. It is also a system that allows Iowa Democrats to stay out of the way of business as usual in the New Hampshire secretary of state’s office.

So maybe NBC News did not bury the lede here. Maybe they just got an interesting quote from a legislator in New Hampshire with a proposal for a novel rip cord the state could pull in case of emergency. The only thing is that there does not appear to be an emergency in the near term or on the horizon.

All there actually is is an inability in the press to dig in on this story and describe what is happening between Iowa and New Hampshire. Less than meets the eye.

--

Recent posts:

Another way to look at current support for the First-in-the-Nation primary in New Hampshire

A twist in the 2024 Republican endorsement primary

New Hampshire blinders in the Democratic nomination race

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[From FHQ Plus] The Georgia primary isn't really in "limbo"

The following is a cross-posted excerpt from FHQ Plus, FHQ's subscription newsletter. Come check the rest out and consider a paid subscription to unlock the full site and support our work. 

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From The Georgia primary isn't really in "limbo":

FHQ always follows along with rules meetings when I have the time. The DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee (DNCRBC) meeting late last week from Minneapolis was no exception. It was a productive if not eventful meeting. Among other things, the panel extended the early calendar waiver for New Hampshire and took up 19 state delegate selection plans, clearing 15 of them as conditionally compliant. 

Much of it seemed straightforward enough. But then I read some of the recaps and kept asking myself if folks had watched the same meeting I had. Sure, rules can have their various interpretations, but these sorts of sessions — those where delegate selection plans are being reviewed — can be pretty technical, pretty black and white. Yet, that did not stop some folks from reading shades of gray into matters where there really is none. Or in the case of the New Hampshire waiver, seeing what they wanted to see.

The consideration of the Georgia presidential primary (and any waiver extension for it) at the DNCRBC meeting last week was one of those situations. Like New Hampshire, the presidential primary in the Peach state had a spot in the early window of the Democratic calendar reserved for it for 2024, but ran into resistance with Republican state officials back home. However, unlike the situation in New Hampshire, the date of the Georgia primary has been set by the secretary of state. That deal is done. 

And DNCRBC co-Chair Minyan Moore seemed to acknowledge that in her comments about what she and fellow co-Chair Jim Roosevelt would recommend to the committee. She conceded that, despite the efforts of Democrats in Georgia and nationally, Peach state Republicans would not budge. They would not cooperate with the proposed change. And though Moore did not acknowledge it, it was an entirely understandable position. Any Georgia primary in mid-February would have cost Peach state Republicans a sizable chunk of their delegation to the national convention in Milwaukee next summer. Their hands were tied. They always were with respect to a February 13 position under Republican National Committee rules. [There were, however, other early window options that may have worked.]

But after that explanation, Moore said…

“…it does not seem to make sense to extend the Georgia waiver at this point. Regardless, I think the foundation has been laid for 2028, and it is a discussion that we need to continue.”

The key phrase in that statement is the highlighted one, at this point. Its addition was enough for the Associated Press to say that the Georgia primary was in limbo, that the committee had “opted not to immediately offer such an extension to another battleground state, Georgia.”

Look, the at this point was in reference to 2024 in its entirety, not this particular point in the 2024 cycle. And the reference to 2028 should have driven that point home. There is no number of waivers that the DNCRBC could offer Georgia Democrats that could get the state-run primary out of that March 12 slot. None. It is not in limbo. It is set for 2024. And this discussion can continue. 

…for 2028.

But it should be noted that there is a loose thread in all of this. There still is no draft delegate selection plan from the Georgia Democratic Party. Its absence at this time could create enough uncertainty that one may be inclined to suggest that maybe a party-run primary of some sort is in the works. 

Maybe. 

But if that was the case, then the DNCRBC would have granted an extension on the Georgia waiver last week. They did not. And they held back on that waiver extension because Georgia is done. The primary is set. 

The committee is set to address delegate selection plans from the southern region at its July meeting, so this all should clear up to some degree by then. 

--

Recent posts:

The difference in how the national parties approve delegate selection plans

Nevada responds to State Republican Party suit against the new presidential primary

One more quirk in the scheduling of the South Carolina Republican Presidential Primary

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See more on our political/electoral consulting venture at FHQ Strategies. 

One more quirk in the scheduling of the South Carolina Republican Presidential Primary

Invisible Primary: Visible -- Thoughts on the invisible primary and links to the goings on of the moment as 2024 approaches...

First, over at FHQ Plus...

• Republicans in the Virgin Islands have set forth an ambitious plan for 2024 delegate allocation and selection in the island territory. All the details at FHQ Plus.

If you haven't checked out FHQ Plus yet, then what are you waiting for? Subscribe below for free and consider a paid subscription to support FHQ's work and unlock the full site.

In Invisible Primary: Visible today...

...

One more thing on South Carolina Republicans setting the date of their 2024 presidential primary...

In revamping FHQ's 2024 presidential primary calendar after the decision out of the Palmetto state over the weekend, it dawned on me that the South Carolina Republican primary has really not "moved" all that far. In truth, it has not moved at all. The date was never set. But now, the primary is set for February 24, 2024. 

Where did FHQ have it tentatively placed way back in the initial iteration of the calendar that was released the day after Inauguration Day in 2021? 

February 24, 2024. 

This is not a boast. It is more a coincidence than anything else. In that time, in early 2021, before the Nevada legislature established the new presidential primary in the Silver state and scheduled it for the first Tuesday in February, the outlook on the 2024 calendar was fairly straightforward. It was going to look like 2016 and 2020: Iowa during the first week of February, New Hampshire's primary the following week and the South Carolina Republican primary the next weekend more than seven days after that. 

However, something was going to have to give in the long run in that scenario because FHQ also had the Nevada caucuses -- again, before the primary was established -- on the same February 24 date. Ultimately, two things gave. First, Nevada established the early February primary. But second South Carolina Republicans relented by apparently yielding their implied third position in the Republican order to Nevada Republicans (whether the party there opts into the state-run primary or not).

But it is funny how it has all worked out to this point. Nevada Republicans still have to settle their plans for 2024. 

...

From around the invisible primary...

• In the money primary, Ron DeSantis has been fundraising in California this week. Next week the Florida governor will do the same thing in Rockland County outside of New York. The $6600 per person dinner with DeSantis and major business leaders will be his second fundraiser of the day in the Empire state, following another event in Manhattan.
• Axios Detroit does their version of the hybrid Michigan primary-caucus system helps Trump story. To be clear, it is not so much the format that helps Trump as the make up of the Michigan Republican Party that may benefit the former president. This can be a kind of chicken or the egg argument, but if the party were tilted toward another candidate and/or if the grassroots were energized and aligned with another candidate, then the format would help them. The big thing about the change is that it erects institutional hurdles that will make it hard for candidates not named Trump or DeSantis to effectively compete in the Great Lakes state. They are the two with the best combination of name recognition, financial resources and organization to make it work in Michigan under the proposed hybrid rules. ...at this time. That picture could change.
• A local, North Dakota-centered look at how folks nationally are reacting to Governor Doug Burgum's bid for the Republican presidential nomination. 
• In the travel primary, both Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis will be in New Hampshire next Tuesday, June 27. Trump to keynote a New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women luncheon in Concord and DeSantis for a town hall meeting in Hollis. 
• Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's anti-Trump run at the Republican nomination is not without some heavy hitters in the political donor game. There was some early reporting that Mets owner and hedge fund founder Steve Cohen was also financially backing Christie's bid through a super PAC. Cohen remains on the periphery of the Republican race for now. 

...

On this date...

...in 2011, former Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman joined the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. 

--

Recent posts:

Are Iowa and New Hampshire likely to face RNC penalties?

South Carolina's move greatly reduces uncertainty on the 2024 presidential primary calendar

Sunday Series: What exactly are Nevada Republicans up to on delegate rules for 2024?

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See more on our political/electoral consulting venture at FHQ Strategies. 

South Carolina's move greatly reduces uncertainty on the 2024 presidential primary calendar

Invisible Primary: Visible -- Thoughts on the invisible primary and links to the goings on of the moment as 2024 approaches...

First, over at FHQ Plus...

• A thorough contextualization of the decision by South Carolina Republicans to schedule the party's presidential primary for late February next year, plus another envelope-pushing Republican delegate selection plan that quietly slipped under the radar over the weekend. All the details at FHQ Plus.

If you haven't checked out FHQ Plus yet, then what are you waiting for? Subscribe below for free and consider a paid subscription to support FHQ's work and unlock the full site.

In Invisible Primary: Visible today...

...

The big news out of the Palmetto state over the weekend was that the Executive Committee of the South Carolina Republican Party voted to schedule the 2024 presidential primary for February 24.

That significantly lowers the temperature on 2024 calendar “chaos” moving forward. With the South Carolina Republican primary in place toward the end of February, that gives Nevada Republicans a substantial runway to land somewhere in the first three weeks of the month. That also means one less contest to potentially compete for calendar space with Iowa and New Hampshire in January. 

There have been those outside of this site who have built up the notion of looming uncertainty with respect to the 2024 calendar, but breathless stories of rogue calendar maneuvering just has not made chaos materialize. It has not. That is not to say that there will not be drama down the stretch as the last calendar pieces fall into place, but it will be muted and all hinges on basically one question: 

On what date does the Iowa Democratic vote-by-mail presidential preference vote end? 

It could be in violation of DNC rules in February and still not affect the beginning of the Republican calendar. That preference vote could end on or after Super Tuesday and it would not change what seems likely. It is only in the event that the Iowa Democratic preference vote ends in January (and probably specifically either on in-person caucus night or merely ahead of the spot New Hampshire is eyeing) that things would turn problematic. 

In any event, there is so much more over at FHQ Plus about the South Carolina move and the early calendar options ahead.

And that triggered a giant update to FHQ's 2024 presidential primary calendar. Both are well worth checking out.

...

Seth Masket does a great job in laying out the balance national parties attempt to maintain in cycles when their incumbent president is seeking reelection. It is a nice departure into the the Democratic race over at Tusk.

...

From around the invisible primary...

Speaking of the nomination race on the incumbent president's side, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s scheduled attendance at PorcFest, a festival of the libertarian-minded New Hampshire Free State Project has drawn a response from New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley. 

Kennedy and Williamson have one play in the contest with Joe Biden: win a rogue New Hampshire presidential primary and hope for the best. But one of those two winning in the Granite state next year either outright or relative to expectations against each other (with Biden not on the ballot) is still less likely to hurt Biden than it is to affect the future of the New Hampshire primary in the Democratic Party's early calendar lineup.

It is an outcome that the New Hampshire Democratic Party does not want. So when friction pops up between Kennedy and the state Democratic Party, it is noteworthy. 

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Recent posts:

Sunday Series: What exactly are Nevada Republicans up to on delegate rules for 2024?

[From FHQ Plus] A glance inside one of the primary alternatives for Idaho Republicans

DeSantis is flirting with the qualifying thresholds in the delegate game

Follow FHQ on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Mastodon and Post or subscribe by Email.

See more on our political/electoral consulting venture at FHQ Strategies.