Brown Signs Bill To Hold Primary Election Earlier
Sacramento, CA — Governor Jerry Brown penned his approval today to move up California’s 2020 presidential primary as well as the primary for state offices to March.
The move is to give the nation’s most populous state more influence in selecting nominees. As it contains nearly a dozen media markets, holding an earlier California primary could shake up the nominating contests and give candidates with more campaign funds an earlier edge.
The new measure places the state primary on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March also known as “Super Tuesday” because it is also when as many as a dozen states hold them. It still falls after the earliest caucuses and primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Last year the primary was held in June when Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump were already the major party nominees. The Democratic and Republican national committees have not yet set rules, a calendar for the 2020 contest or the number of delegates each state will get. California, which typically gets the most delegates, was given more for holding a late primary in 2016, something that could sway the other way in 2020 for setting an earlier one.
