The 2024 November election is quickly approaching, and the presidential primary calendar is continuing to take shape. As of June 22, 2023, thirty states have confirmed the dates for their 2024 presidential preference primaries through the release of an official election calendar, candidate filing instructions, or an announcement from a state political party.
A presidential preference primary is a primary election in which a voter indicates a preference for a particular candidate to be a party’s nominee for the presidency. This type of primary can either be organized by a state itself or by a political party within the state. (In Alaska, Hawaii, South Carolina, the Democratic and Republican parties hold their presidential preference primaries on separate dates.)
South Carolina has the earliest confirmed 2024 presidential preference primary date with its Democratic Party primary scheduled for February 3. Montana, New Mexico, and South Dakota share the latest confirmed date, June 4. Twelve other states share the most popular confirmed date, March 5, which is commonly known as Super Tuesday: Alabama, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia.
Iowa and New Hampshire held the first presidential preference contests in the nation in 2020, on February 3 and February 11, respectively. Neither state has confirmed the date for its 2024 presidential preference contest. Puerto Rico held the latest presidential primary in 2020 on July 12. Super Tuesday occurred on March 3, with 15 states holding their presidential preference primaries.
In some states, presidential preference primary elections are scheduled at the same time as statewide primaries for other offices. In others, states choose to schedule two separate primary elections. Of the 30 states that have confirmed presidential preference primary dates for 2024, ten states will hold their statewide primaries for other offices on the same day: Alabama, California, Kentucky, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas.
Twenty-eight states have confirmed the dates for their 2024 statewide primaries through the release of either an official election calendar or candidate filing instructions.
Statewide primary elections allow voters to indicate a preference for particular candidates to be a party’s nominees for the offices that are up for election that year, according to state law. Alabama, California, North Carolina, and Texas share the earliest and most popular confirmed 2024 statewide primary date, March 5. Louisiana’s unique majority-vote system gives it the latest confirmed statewide primary date, November 5.
The graphic below shows which states have confirmed presidential and/or statewide primary dates for 2024.
