The chairpersons of Connecticut”™s Republican and Democratic state parties have teamed up to support efforts to move the state”™s presidential primary from the last to the first Tuesday in April.
According to a CT Mirror report, the GOP”™s Ben Proto and the Democrats”™ Nancy DiNardo offered a rare united front in a hearing before the legislature”™s Government Administration and Elections Committee to support House Bill 6908, which reschedules the primary.
“For too many presidential elections, Connecticut voters have been shortchanged in the primaries by being scheduled on the last Tuesday in April,” said DiNardo.
“We know that when the candidates come to a state they spend a lot of money, not only on their media buys, but also within our hospitality industry, on salaries, on staff,” Proto said. “So, there”™s a tangential benefit to doing this to making a competitive state that candidates want to come to.”
Connecticut is among 20 states seeking to move its Democratic primary earlier in year. But even if it the date was earlier in April, it would still fall behind the February and March primaries, most notably the March 5 “Super Tuesday” with primaries in California, Maine, Massachusetts, Texas and Vermont.
DiNardo and Proto also teamed to support a separate bill to raise the maximum contributions to the state party from $10,000 to $15,000.
