Welcome to the Wednesday, May 31, Brew.
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Taking stock of 2024 presidential and statewide primary dates
- Explore how A.I. could affect political news on the latest episode of On the Ballot, our weekly podcast
- 17 state legislatures are still in session
Taking stock of 2024 election dates
Although this year’s elections are in full swing (one week until New Jersey’s statewide primary), let’s take a look at what we know so far about 2024.
As of May 26, 23 states have confirmed the dates for their 2024 presidential preference primaries through the release of an official election calendar, candidate filing instructions, or an announcement from a state political party. The remaining 27 states have not formally or officially confirmed their dates.
In some states, presidential preference primary elections are scheduled at the same time as statewide primaries for other offices. In others, states choose to schedule two separate primary elections. Of the 23 states that have confirmed presidential preference primary dates for 2024, seven—Alabama, California, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Texas—will hold their statewide primaries for other offices on the same day.
The graphic below shows all 23 confirmed presidential preference primary dates for 2024.
- South Carolina has the earliest confirmed 2024 presidential preference primary date on Feb. 3, according to the South Carolina Democratic Party.
- New Mexico and South Dakota share the latest confirmed date—June 4.
- Twelve other states share the most popular confirmed date, March 5, which is commonly known as Super Tuesday: Alabama, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia.
Iowa and New Hampshire held the first presidential preference contests in the nation in 2020, with the former holding its caucuses on Feb. 3 and the latter holding its primary on Feb. 11. As of this writing, neither state has confirmed the date for its 2024 presidential preference contest. On Feb. 4, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) voted to make South Carolina’s primary the first in the country, prompting the New Hampshire State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the 2024 ballot that would direct the secretary of state to “ensure that the presidential primary election be held seven or more days immediately preceding the date on which any other state shall hold a similar election.”
Puerto Rico held the latest presidential primary in 2020 on July 12. In 2020, Super Tuesday occurred on March 3, with 15 states holding their presidential preference primaries.
States are also scheduling their statewide primary dates, which, as we discussed above, may overlap with presidential primaries. As of May 26, 22 states have confirmed the dates for their 2024 statewide primaries through the release of either an official election calendar or candidate filing instructions.
The graphic below shows all 22 confirmed statewide primary dates for 2024.
March 5 is the earliest and most popular confirmed 2024 statewide primary date. Alabama, California, North Carolina, and Texas have scheduled their statewide primaries on that day. Louisiana’s unique majority-vote system gives it the latest confirmed statewide primary date—Nov. 5.
For more information on 2024 election dates, click here.
Explore how A.I. could affect political news on the latest episode of On the Ballot, our weekly podcast
With the prevalence of artificial intelligence (A.I.) in the news in recent months, we wanted to explore how the rapidly evolving tools and world of A.I. will affect political news and elections.
To help us answer that question, host Victoria Rose sat down with Joe Amditis, assistant director of products and events at the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University, for a wide-ranging conversation about how A.I. might affect news, misinformation, and our political media ecosystem. Along the way, Victoria and Joe discuss A.I.’s capabilities and limitations, the alternative A.I. tools that have arisen since ChatGPT became widely known last November, and Joe’s recent ebook, “Beginner’s prompt handbook: ChatGPT for local news publishers.”
This is the first in what will be a series of episodes exploring how A.I. will affect the media and politics. Subscribe today to listen to our most recent episode and stay up to date on future releases!
17 state legislatures are still in session
Summer is quickly approaching, and state legislative sessions are winding down. Let’s check in on where lawmakers are still meeting to draft and vote on legislation and set state policy.
As of May 30, according to the latest data from the 2023 MultiState Insider Resource, 17 state legislatures are still in session, 28 legislatures have adjourned, four legislatures are in special session, and one legislature is in recess.
Several legislative sessions will end within the next 30 days.
- Connecticut’s legislative session is scheduled to end on June 7.
- Louisiana’s and New York’s are scheduled to end on June 8.
- Nebraska’s is scheduled to end on June 9.
- Sessions in Arizona, Delaware, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island are scheduled to end on June 30.
Legislative sessions vary from state to state. Forty-six state legislatures hold regular sessions every year, while the other four states—Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, and Texas—legislatures meet only in odd-numbered years. The length of these sessions ranges from about two months in states like Alabama, Florida, and Louisiana to almost a year in Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
Click below to learn more about this year’s state legislative sessions.