On March 31, the House State Government and Elections Committee unanimously recommended passage of a bill requiring Rhode Island’s presidential primary elections to be held on the first Tuesday in March — or “Super Tuesday” — beginning in 2028.
In 2024, Rhode Island held its presidential primaries on April 2. If the bill is passed, Rhode Island will join the 16 states and one territory that hold primaries or caucuses on Super Tuesday.
The bill has garnered bipartisan support from R.I. politicians.
In a statement to The Herald, R.I. House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi (D-Warwick), a cosponsor of the bill, wrote that “Rhode Island does not get enough consideration from national candidates and media” due in part to its late primaries.
State Rep. Joseph McNamara (D-Warwick, Cranston) — another cosponsor of the bill — said that the purpose of the bill “is to try to create some enthusiasm for participating in the primaries.”
“Currently, with the late primary, we don’t get candidates visiting Rhode Island,” McNamara said. “They don’t seem to think it’s worth their while.”
McNamara explained that moving the primaries to an earlier date would create incentive for candidates to visit Rhode Island because the timing of their visit would line up with a greater number of New England states.
If candidates “have a campaign bus that can do 65 miles an hour,” he said, they would “virtually” be able to “hit every state in New England in a day and a half.”
McNamara believes that moving the primaries date will help R.I. voters feel “as though they’re part of something larger, that their vote means more,” he said.
Candidates’ heavy social media activity on Super Tuesday might help to motivate more voters to “turn out” if Rhode Island moves its primaries, said Michael Citarella ’27, a civic engagement fellow at the Swearer Center for Public Service.
Citarella pointed out that variation in presidential primaries election dates nationwide create candidate biases towards certain states.
“We should be moving towards a system where singular states aren’t favored,” he said. “Right now, South Carolina is slated to be the first democratic primary election, and why should candidates be specifically focused on campaigning South Carolina?”
“This special attention isn’t good for producing the best candidates for either party,” he added.
Although Citarella expressed doubt that moving the election date will have a significant impact on candidate visits to Rhode Island since it is a relatively small state with few delegates, he said the proposal is “a positive step forward.”
“It is the most important day of the primary cycle,” he added.
Citarella said that the bill would require some logistical shifts, but that R.I. Secretary of State Gregg Amore is “very experienced in running these elections” and has “done a good job in helping to improve Rhode Island election systems over the past few cycles.”
“Our office testified in support of the legislation in both the House and the Senate. However, as part of the bill, we would like to see small tweaks to the overall election calendar to accommodate the change,” Faith Chybowski, director of communications at the R.I. Department of State, wrote to The Herald.
“If the General Assembly passes the bill and it becomes law, our office is committed to implementing the changes effectively and providing robust voter and candidate education,” Chybowski added.
In his statement, Shekarchi wrote that he is “confident” in the legislation’s ability to “attract candidates from both parties” to Rhode Island.
“It’s a win-win situation,” McNamara said.
Annika Melwani is a metro senior staff writer covering state politics and justice. She is from New York City and plans on concentrating in English and International and Public Affairs. In her free time, she can be found reading or drinking an iced vanilla latte.
