Bypassing Super Tuesday Georgia will get primary spotlight
Georgia will be on the sidelines for next years Super Tuesday on March 3, the nations biggest round of presidential primaries that will include California and 12 other states with a huge batch of delegates to be chosen.
March 24 is the date set for Georgia’s primary by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. The primary calendar is completely clear for that day with the only other action being Republican caucuses in American Samoa to select six delegates to the national convention. Georgia voters will choose
105 Democratic and 76 Republican delegates in the primary.
Dominating Super Tuesday will be California and Texas. Combined they will pick 644 Democratic delegates and 327 GOP delegates. The other states participating in the March 3 round of primaries are Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont and Virginia.
On Super Tuesday a total of 1,321 Democratic delegates will be selected nearly half the 1,885 needed to win the nomination on the first ballot at the national convention. Republicans will choose 840 delegates out of the estimated 1,276 needed to win.
Super Tuesday will winnow the huge Democratic field from a record 25 candidates to only a few viable contenders, and its far too early to predict who they will be, various polls notwithstanding. What is predictable is that the election will pit a liberal or far-left Democrat against the presumed Republican nominee, President Donald Trump.
The presidential primary season begins in Iowa on Feb. 3, followed closely by New Hampshire on Feb. 11. Next is the South Carolina Republican primary on February 15, the Nevada Democratic caucuses Feb. 22 and Republican caucuses Feb. 25. Then comes the South Carolina Democratic Primary on Feb. 29, the first in the South, considered critical for the candidates. Its importance has been described by Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright.
This will be the first time you have this many candidates all in one venue at the same time at the same stage talking to a very decisive voting bloc the most important voting bloc in the Democratic primary African American voters, Seawright
told CBS. That bloc comprises 61 percent of the voters in South Carolina.
On the heels of South Carolina, eight states including Mississippi hold their primaries March 10. After that, two dozen other states have primaries, caucuses or conventions and the D.C. Democratic primary on June 16 closes the season.
Just why Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger settled on March 24 for this state’s primary is not clear. When an explanation was requested, his press, secretary, Tess Hammack, said, “We’re not commenting while the agency awaits action on purchasing new voting machines.”
Whatever the reasons were, the date found favor with the Georgia’s Democratic Party chair, state Sen. Nikema Williams. She said: “This timing uniquely places Georgia as the decision maker for the Democratic presidential primary, and we expect to continue seeing candidates engage Georgia Democrats.”
The timing magnifies Georgia’s role as a battleground state certain to attract more media coverage and campaign workers than would happen if the state were rolled into a larger round of primaries. Already both parties are ramping up training activities. The GOP had a week of training for its ground forces in Georgia, among 30,000 volunteers nationally the Republican National Committee says have been trained since 2015. The Democrats plans include training 1,000 college-age students in Georgia and several other states that could play pivotal roles in next years elections.
Republicans are taking nothing for granted, U.S. Sen. David Perdue says. Perdue, looking to win a second term next year, told a reporter the GOP is working with local grassroots activists and Trump Victory to build the strongest ground game in Georgia’s history. Perdue pointed out that nearly all the Democratic hopefuls have visited this state because they believe their path to the presidency runs through Georgia.
Now there’s a good explanation for Georgia holding its primary all by itself on March 24.