BRIAN PERRY/2016’s SEC Primary
Mississippi got a taste of the political experience Iowa and New Hampshire enjoy every presidential election cycle when in 2012, with the Republican nomination still in contention, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich all campaigned in state, making multiple stops and events seeking to win a portion of the Magnolia State delegates.
There is an effort to make that a more common affair by creating a regional Southern primary on March 1. The “SEC” regional primary, as proponents are calling it, would include Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi in an attempt to give the area a greater say in the selection of Republican and Democratic presidential nominees.
March 1 is the earliest any state – other than the four traditional early states (Iowa caucuses, New Hampshire primary, Nevada caucuses, South Carolina primary) – is allowed to hold a primary, at least under Republican National Committee rules which penalize states for seeking an earlier date by reducing its delegate size, as was done to Florida in 2012.
Madison County Journal
12/17/14
Magnolia Tribune
