It’s partly to account for Passover. Some dates that are in the pipeline: March 19, March 26, or April 2. I live in PA, but I can’t visualize how this would change anything for me as a voter. Would it be a seismic change for candidates? Would you support it? I don’t think I know enough to support any of these dates.
In terms of delegates, it shouldn’t have any effect on the Republican side. On the Democratic side, moving from April to March means a loss of the 13 “bonus delegates” the state would get for having an April primary, but unless something serious happens to President Biden by then, I doubt that it will matter.
In terms of “momentum,” again looking at it from just the Republican viewpoint, it’s well after Super Tuesday. One advantage of March is, it’s before New York, so if there’s no clear frontrunner after Super Tuesday, Pennsylvania doesn’t have to worry about NY getting somebody over the finish line first.
Life long Pennsylvanian here, moving the primary would be a waste of money.
It might mean moving the primary to a date before one of the candidates gets convicted. That just might have an effect.
I may be missing something big, but how will it cost money? If it does, I will agree, because our no-excuse early voting covers the Passover issue.
Now, it should be kept in April, partly so we can keep the extra delegates (I trust my fellow Pennsylvania Democrats a smidgen more than Democrats elsewhere) , and partly as a gesture in the direction of keeping the primary season shorter.