Texas and North Carolina are poised to have the nation’s earliest primaries and primary candidate filing deadlines in the 2022 election cycle. Texas’ primary is currently scheduled for March 1, 2022, with the candidate filing deadline on Dec. 13, 2021. North Carolina’s primary is scheduled for March 8, 2022, with the candidate filing deadline on Dec. 17, 2021.

Some states, like Illinois, have postponed their 2022 primaries due to the delayed release of the block-level census data the states use for redistricting. Illinois moved its 2022 primary from March 15 to June 28. At this time, all dates are tentative and subject to change.

At present, the 2022 primary calendar is shaping up as follows:

1. Two states have primaries scheduled for March.
2. Eleven states have primaries scheduled for May.
3. Eighteen states have primaries scheduled for June.
4. Fourteen states have primaries scheduled for Aug.
5. Five states have primaries scheduled for Sept. or later.

And the primary candidate filing deadline calendar breaks down as follows:

1. Two states have filing deadlines scheduled for Dec. 2021.
2. Three states have filing deadlines scheduled for Jan. 2022.
3. Five states have filing deadlines scheduled for Feb.
4. Eighteen states have filing deadlines scheduled for March.
5. Seven states have filing deadlines scheduled for April.
6. Five states have filing deadlines scheduled for May.
7. Ten states have filing deadlines scheduled for June or later.

In the 2020 cycle, Alabama had the earliest candidate filing deadline on Nov. 8, 2019. Alabama, Arkansas, California, North Carolina, and Texas held the cycle’s first primaries on March 3. Nine other states and the territory of American Samoa held presidential primaries on that day but scheduled the remainder of their primaries for a later date.

For comparison, in the 2020 cycle:

1. Seven states held primaries in March.
2. One state held its primary in April.
3. Three states held primaries in May.
4. Eighteen states held primaries in June.
5. Two states held primaries in July.
6. Fourteen states held primaries in Aug.
7. Five states held primaries in Sept. or later.

The 2020 primary candidate filing deadline calendar was as followes:

1. Two states had filing deadlines in Nov. 2019.
2. Five states had filing deadlines in Dec. 2019.
3. Four states had filing deadlines in Jan. 2020.
4. Two states had filing deadlines in Feb.
5. Sixteen states had filing deadlines in March.
6. Six states had filing deadlines in April.
7. Three states had filing deadlines in May.
8. Twelve states had filing deadline in June or later.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, 10 states postponed their scheduled primaries (this number does not include states that only postponed primary runoffs or presidential primaries). All 10 had originally planned to hold their primaries between March and June.

For more on primary election postponements during the coronavirus pandemic, click here.