HARRISBURG (TNS) — In Pennsylvania, we’re probably never going to be Iowa when it comes to trying presidential candidates on for size.
But one state senator has launched a new effort to try to give Pennsylvania voters a little more say in the presidential candidate nominating process through a bill that would move Pennsylvania’s current presidential year primary date from the fourth Tuesday in April to the third Tuesday in March.
The bill by Sen. John Gordner, R-Columbia County, passed a small first test in the Senate State Government Committee Tuesday, getting a unanimous vote to move to the Senate floor.
Similar proposals have languished in the past due to a combination of factors that include pushback from some local election administrators and an unspoken satisfaction among many of that state’s party leaders and donors that while Pennsylvania matters much and gets a lot of attention in general elections, they never really have to get their hands dirty in multi-candidate fields.
Of course, for some concerned voters, the chance to play a bigger role in setting November’s choices is always welcome.
Gordner’s bill takes a measured step in that direction. The move to the third Tuesday in March is the earliest the state could set its primary without being penalized with a loss of voting national convention delegates by either the Republican or Democratic national committees.
As things stand in 2024 so far, it would push our state to a primary day that’s shared with Florida, Illinois, Ohio and Arizona, creating something of a miniature national primary for those candidates that are still standing after first two Tuesdays in March, when about 20 states usually hold primaries or caucuses.
We would move up about six places in the state-by-state selection process, but there’s no guarantee that this would really work better for Pennsylvania voters.
Pennsylvania has really only seen two “live” presidential primaries since 2000: The Democratic race between Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton in 2008; and the Pennsylvania Republican primary between Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich in 2016.
At Gordner’s proposed date, it looks like both party’s voters would have gained one more meaningful cycle since 2000:
For the Republicans, that would have been 2012, when the GOP race had pretty much distilled down to Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum by mid-March, but Santorum was still actively competing through the March schedule.
For the Democrats, it would have been 2020, as the Illinois/Florida/Arizona date last year that allowed Joe Biden to declare himself the presumptive nominee over Bernie Sanders, the last rival standing in that once-crowded field.
The climb from here won’t be easy. The five-week shift, if Pennsylvania’s election schedule was otherwise kept the same, would push the time frame for circulating signatures to get put on the primary ballot for state House and Senate candidates — the very people who have to vote this through — into a window from Dec. 26-Jan 16.
That could prove too close to the holiday season for some.
Gordner, R-Columbia County, thinks the chance at increased relevance is worth the shot.
