Idaho Democrats Make Contingency Plans for 2024

Delegate selection disrupted for Gem state Democrats by presidential primary elimination

By now the saga of the 2024 Idaho presidential primary should be well known to careful readers of the FHQ universe. The legislature introduced legislation intended to eliminate the stand-alone March presidential primary and consolidate that election with primaries for other offices in late May.

But the legislation was flawed. It only eliminated the March primary option without writing back the portion of the state code that existed when the presidential primary was part of the May primary before 2012. A subsequent and separate fix was drafted and both the original measure (which originated in and passed the state House) and the fix passed the Senate. The original went off to Governor Brad Little (R) for his consideration while the fix got bottled up in committee, in part, because the Idaho Republican Party objected to the late May primary date.

And then Governor Little signed the original bill into law, eliminating the presidential primary altogether with no fix on the way, at least not during the 2023 regular session that adjourned in early April. With no immediate plans to call a special session, both parties are in a predicament about how to proceed.