Monday, February 9, 2015

DC Presidential Primary Continues Slow Crawl to June

The Washington, DC presidential primary move to June has seemed inevitable since December. However, procedurally, it has taken some time to get to that end.

When FHQ last updated the situation, the 2013 bill to move the District's 2016 presidential primary from the first Tuesday in April to the second Tuesday in June had unanimously passed the Council vote and the time for mayoral review had seemingly passed. Yet, the bill carried over into the new legislative period, giving newly inaugurated mayor, Muriel Bowser, the opportunity to register an opinion on the move. The Washington mayor does not have to act for legislation to become an act of the Council. In this instance, though, Mayor Bowser gave the June primary a thumbs up last week on February 6.

That initiates a window in which Congress will have the chance -- if it chooses to exercise that option -- to review the move. Such a review is more a formality than anything else.

In a cycle when the only states that are moving to later primary dates are the straggling rogues from 2012, Washington, DC represents a state/territory with an already late date moving even later on the calendar. In fact, the second Tuesday in April would be the last possible date for the primary to be held without sanction under the national parties' delegate selection rules.

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