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Agreement On Texas Primary Date Expected Today

An agreement on when Texas will elect their party nominees could come as early as today. KERA's Shelley Kofler reports Republicans and Democrats say they're close to deciding when Texas should hold political primaries.

As of now March 6 is still the date set for the Texas Primary. But a partisan battle over which election maps should be used has resulted in a US Supreme Court hearing on January 9, with election boundaries for congressional and legislative races being decided sometime after that.

Candidates waiting to see where their election districts will be located would then have two months at most to campaign for their parties' nominations. So Democrats and Republicans have been meeting, considering a later primary in April or May. They've also talked about two primaries- March 6 for the presidential primary which could include Rick Perry, and a later date for candidates in newly drawn districts.

Earlier this week judges gave candidates the option of waiting on the Supreme Court before they make final decisions about running. Chris Elam is a spokesman for the Republican Party of Texas.

Elam: Candidates have the ability to file through 6:00 pm Monday, December 19. At some point in the future the candidate filing reopens and candidates will be afforded the opportunity to amend, withdraw or file for the first time for their applications for the ballot.

Numerous county elections supervisors have said holding two primaries would be too costly. Perry supporters have argued against holding Texas' presidential primary later than March 6 because if Perry's still in the race he will need his state's electoral support as early as possible to keep his campaign going.

Email Shelley Kofler

Former KERA staffer Shelley Kofler was news director, managing editor and senior reporter. She is an award-winning reporter and television producer who previously served as the Austin bureau chief and legislative reporter for North Texas ABC affiliate WFAA-TV.