2

Super Tuesday will be on March 3, 2020. Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Democrats Abroad, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia will all hold their presidential primaries on that date. en.wikipedia.org

Only 14 states (and Democrats Abroad) participate in Super Tuesday. Why only these 14, and what about the other 36? Do they still participate in the primaries?

1
  • 2
    It's probably worth pointing out that there is not a single Super Tuesday. In 2016 there were four Super Tuesdays on both the Republican and Democrat sides. I presume it will be much the same this time around, at least for the Democrats, but I haven't actually checked. Commented Mar 4, 2020 at 7:11

1 Answer 1

6

There is no national coordination of primaries, and in some instances the primaries are not run by the states which results in, e.g., different dates for the Republican and Democratic primaries in the same state.

So the reason why those states have their primaries today is because that's when the states have decided to do that. Iowa and New Hampshire have traditionally been first and have responded to other states' attempts to usurp that role by moving their calendars earlier.

There is some claim that by spreading out primaries, it enables lower-funded candidates to realistically compete.

2
  • 1
    It's more than "tradition" in NH: They made an actual state law requiring their presidential primary elections to be scheduled at least a week before any other states have theirs.
    – dan04
    Commented Mar 4, 2020 at 1:58
  • 1
    @dan04 what happens if some other state passes a similar law? Both can't be a week before the other.
    – Caleth
    Commented Mar 5, 2020 at 14:11

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .