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Should the Primaries be moved to June?

With the Primary Election past, it's time to look into some Campaign Reform for New York's future.

Yesterday, The NY Sun ran a piece on moving the NY Primary back to the third Tuesday in June.

New York State moved its primary to September from June in 1977, and some civic groups and elected leaders want to move it back. An earlier primary would avoid a campaign during the summer months, when many voters are not paying attention to politics, and it would allow for a longer general election race. The Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, has co-sponsored a bill that would move the primary to the third Tuesday in June, but it has not gotten out of committee.

Pundits feel moving the Primary to the start of summer would benefit Democrats in that they won't be "beating each other up" so close to the General Election. This pleases Democrats and worries Republicans. The summer will allow candidates to build a warchest while the average voter can focus on summer vacations and getting away from their routine lives. No one really thinks of politics during the summer. But does this necessarily benefit only Democrats?

Members of the New York Young Republican Club believe that moving the Primary to June would actually be beneficial to Republicans. There are a number of reasons this can help the GOP, as it would help any candidate regardless of party.

1. Party conventions are generally held in late April, early May. If Primary Day had been in June this year, The GOP may have considered holding more Primaries throughout the State, which would, in turn, encourage registered Republicans to vote in the Primary. William Weld may very well have decided to remain in the race after he lost the State Party's endorsement and we would have been treated to two statewide Primaries.

2. Many believe that after the GOP endorsed John Spencer and KT McFarland chose to primary her way onto the November ballot, donors for the race against Sen. Hillary Clinton held off their contribution. This seriously hurt the primary winner, John Spencer, who has six weeks to raise money, get ads out and get his message out against a strong incumbent.

3. The press would end up covering candidates and campaigns more from February to June, before the summer months when folks go out to the Jersey Shore, the Hamptons, or trips to Europe. In the case of Manhattan, it is assumed that the Silk-stocking Republicans are Blue Bloods, like Weld and McFarland. These folks aren't going to be around during the June petitioning or paying attention to any summer campaign, if we believe they'll all be out hiking the mountains of India or relaxing along the shores of Florida. Though I'm stereotyping the GOP here, it is not far-reaching to believe the liberal intellegencia of Manhattan aren't doing the same thing.

I am curious to hear what fellow Young Republicans and other readers of this blog feel about moving Primary Day up to June.

by Daniel Peterson, Wednesday, Sep. 13 | Permalink