A Missouri House panel endorsed legislation today that would move the state's presidential primary from February to March of 2016.
Sponsoring member Tony Dugger says keeping the earlier date could cause Missouri to lose delegates at the 2016 national party conventions.
He says moving the date to March would avoid a repeat of 2012, when the state held a non-binding presidential primary. Faced with losing delegates, state Republican officials later decided to select convention representatives with a caucus system that year.
The House Elections Committee voted unanimously on the legislation, and it will now head to the Rules Committee.