Jacobs makes the case for separate primaries

New York Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs is against shifting the entire primary calendar to August, which is likely to be the new date for the state’s congressional and state senate primaries and possibly the Assembly primaries.

If the legislative primaries are moved to later in the summer – to accommodate the drawing of new district maps – that would just leave the primaries for statewide offices and judicial delegates for the originally scheduled June 28th date. Having multiple summer primaries in New York was normal before 2019, but since then the state and federal primary elections have been held on one day to increase turnout and reduce election administration costs for local governments.

Echoing Gov. Kathy Hochul’s opposition to changing the statewide primaries, Jacobs told The Capitol Pressroom that statewide candidates are prepared for a June election and noted dual primaries have happened in the past. “Budgets and the rest have been prepared for that (and) the less disruption to that the better,” he said.

Asked about the cost of multiple primaries, Jacobs said that isn’t the only factor under consideration.

“I think that keeping everything on track is something that’s beneficial for both parties,” he added.