‘SEC PRIMARY’ HAS GOP CANDIDATES LOOKING SOUTH
Southern Republicans are seeking more say in determining nominee by front-loading of contests, but idea faces challenges
KNOXVILLE, TENN. Beyond the signs of the season — football tailgates, chilly weather, and Halloween pumpkins — voters in Tennessee and other Southern states are seeing something different this fall. Presidential campaigns. The scheduling of some key Southern primaries has changed candidates’ schedules, explaining why Jeb Bush would attend this weekend’s Southeastern Conference football showdown between the universities of Tennessee and Georgia.
“This is the SEC primary, and we need to have help on March 1,” Bush told a group of orange-clad Tennessee Volunteers fans.
In setting the March 1 date for a slate of primaries that include Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas, as well as Tennessee and Georgia, southern Republicans are seeking more say in determining their party’s nominee. They want a conservative who emphasizes issues such as gun rights, religious liberty, lower taxes, and less federal oversight over local items like education.
“This is going to probably be one of the single biggest days of primary season,” said Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, a prime force behind organizing the SEC primary. In addition to states with ties to the Southeastern Conference, March 1 also features non-SEC states that include Virginia and Oklahoma.
The front-loading of Southern primaries is why Ben Carson also planned to visit Knoxville this weekend; why Donald Trump held an August rally at a football stadium in Mobile, Ala., and why Ted Cruz has been on bus tours in Southern states that rarely saw primary candidates.
At the University of Tennessee, from the banks of Neyland Stadium to hundreds of orange-tinted tailgate tents dotting the campus, prospective voters said they look forward to weighing in on the political contest next March. “Right now, I like to sit back and watch Trump scare the (crud) out of everybody,” said Steven Weaver, 56, a consultant from Summerville, Ga., who made the trip to Knoxville to watch his Bulldogs.
Relaxing at a hotel near the stadium, wife Sandy Weaver, 57, responded to a question about the issues by holding up two fingers — a reference to the Second Amendment to bear arms. “It’s a basic constitutional right, and we need it for safety,” Weaver, a retired educator, said.
Mike Long, 58, a retired electrical worker and a friend of the Weavers, brought up another issue he predicted would be big in the South: “What are they doing to do for the veterans?” he asked. Long said the high military popu- lations of southern states will likely play a role in the primaries.
Across campus, retiree Vivian Slaughter, 78, waited for Bush at a public square under cloudy skies. A former Florida resident who now lives in Tennessee, Slaughter held pictures of her and thengovernor Bush, whom she praised but also criticized for his support of Common Core education standards — a primary issue in her view. “The South is not going to accept Common Core,” Slaughter said.
Minutes before Bush appeared at the rally to the musical sounds of Rocky Top, Ellen Harris of Kingsport, Tenn., said the earlier primary will “make us look at the issues” sooner than in previous years. “We have a lot of say,” she said, “if we can just convince people to get out and vote.”
Indeed, get-out-the-vote organizations will be key in states that aren’t used to high-profile primaries, political professionals said. Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, who introduced Bush at the political tailgate, said campaigns have to focus on the opening contests of the Republican race, Iowa and New Hampshire, in early February. After other February contests in South Carolina and Nevada, the remaining candidates face a quick turnaround before the slew of southern primaries on March 1, and that “will put a premium on having an organization in place,” Haslam said.
The idea of a regional primary is not new. In 1988, southern Democrats helped organize a “Super Tuesday” slate of primaries designed to improve the chances of southern candidates The idea really didn’t work out: Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis won enough races that day to maintain his march to the nomination. The current Republican effort features more than a dozen candidates, and it may be hard for the South to unite behind one of them.
Another reason the SEC primary may not be decisive: States will award convention delegates based on their percentage of the votes, meaning they could be split up among a number of candidates. The Republican Party is not permitting winner-take-all primaries until later in later in the primary season.
Still, the SEC primary has already had one significant impact: Presidential candidates are visiting states like Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama earlier than they ever have before, even during football season. Parry also noted the profusion of candidates into her state, saying “it’s unusual to see Arkansas’ dance card full.”
As Bush told the huddled Tennessee football fans, “I’ll be back here campaigning.”
Kemp, the Georgia secretary of State, said the SEC primary could also be a wave of the future. A “Big Ten primary” with Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois? A “Pac-12 primary” with California, Arizona, Oregon, and Washington? Who knows? “You may love or hate SEC football,” Kemp said. “But everybody knows about it.”