Effort to move up Washington's presidential primary to March fails

OLYMPIA -- The push to make Washington more influential in presidential politics was shot down Tuesday.

Secretary of State Kim Wyman had pushed to move the state’s presidential primary up to early March instead of its current spot in late May.  But Tuesday afternoon, the commission overseeing the state’s primary schedule rejected the plan.

Holding the vote in early March, just a week after "Super Tuesday", means the contests of both parties could still be very much in play.  Therefore, candidates would have an incentive to come to our state to campaign and to engage voters.  In the past, Washington has mostly been an afterthought in the presidential primary race.

Democrats, who blocked the move Tuesday, argue they don’t want it to draw people away from their presidential caucuses.  Moreover, they contend, the candidates will still have an incentive to visit the state.

“There is going to be a lot more chance and opportunity for them to come out to Washington to be engaged in our precinct caucuses March 26,” said Jaxen Ravens, executive director for the Washington Democratic Party.

Washington Democrats have never used the results of the presidential primaries anyway; they rely on their caucuses instead.  The GOP has used the primary to choose half their convention delegates, with the other half coming from their caucuses.

Some have argued that the state should just cancel the primary altogether if it’s not moved earlier.  After all, it costs $12 million and by late May, the current date, the parties will have already chosen their candidates through the state’s caucus system.