Delaware’s Republican presidential primary has been called off due to a unique turn of events.
The state’s lawmakers moved swiftly on Tuesday to pass a bill amending Delaware election law, allowing them to cancel the scheduled April 2 primary. Democratic Governor John Carney wasted no time in signing the bill into law.
The decision to cancel the primary was triggered by former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s decision to suspend her campaign. Haley withdrew her name from Delaware’s primary ballot last week, leaving Donald Trump as the sole contender.
However, a legislative intervention was necessary as Haley withdrew after the deadline for such actions had passed. According to the existing law, there is only a one-week window between the deadline for filing and the deadline for withdrawal. This year, the filing deadline for the presidential primary was on Feb. 2, followed by the withdrawal deadline on Feb. 9.
State Elections Commissioner Anthony Albence noted that the timing worked better when Delaware held its presidential primary in early February. However, the primary was moved to April in 2011 by legislators.
Albence explained to lawmakers, “Now that we have a much later primary and the dynamics of the campaigns have shifted significantly, we find ourselves in a situation like this, where there is essentially no competition.”
Earlier on, Delaware’s Democratic presidential primary was already canceled as President Joe Biden was the only candidate who filed.
State elections officials have estimated that scrapping the Republican primary will lead to savings of at least $1.5 million for taxpayers.
