Breaking: McBride trying to short-circuit primary challenge
From BlueDelaware: McBride’s bill sets the “primary election for all state offices up for election this year, 2020, will be held on April 28, 2020. A little more than three months away. The new filing deadline for the primary will be February 25, 2020, a little more than a month away.”
Senate President Pro Tempore Dave McBride is going to try to pull a fast one tomorrow that will, he thinks, endear him to progressives and liberals while at the same time short-circuiting the primary challenge he and others in the General Assembly may face.
House Bill 41 calls for moving the primary election from September to April. Delaware has the latest primary election in the country, and for years, people have been trying to move it earlier in the calendar. The reasons for this are clear: a mid September primary gives the winners of the primary little time to turn around and get ready for the general election in November. So reformers and progressives have been lobbying for this change for years.
There is no reason an earlier primary should be backed by progressives, as a short season to a general election makes no difference in a state as polarized as ours — the Democratic primary is the general upstate, the Republican one downstate.
Furthermore, while Delaware may be last, it’s not by much. New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island also hold primaries in September. Another 13 hold primaries in August, not significantly different in terms of ability to campaign before the general.
It’s a made-up issue and, given the extended time legislators spend half-days in Dover — Maryland, a state with 6 times our population and nearly 10 times our annual budget, manages to get its business done in just four months — a problem no matter how much earlier it’s moved, unless it’s set in August, in which case why bother?
There will be no April primary in 2020.
Even if the bill passes, there may not be an April primary in 2022. I’ll explain why in tomorrow’s Post-Game/Pre-Game.
I don’t support an earlier primary, but people who I respect disagree. We’ll also talk about that. This is NOT an attempt by McBride to escape a primary challenge, though. Time for Perry Mason (the classics are still the best), so I’m cutting it short until tom’w.
Common sense wins? https://twitter.com/MatthewCBittle/status/1217794046724378624