Politics

Kentucky delays its 2020 primary, the latest state to do so as coronavirus spreads

Key Points
  • Kentucky will delay its primary election to June 23 from May 19, Secretary of State Michael Adams announced. 
  • Kentucky joins states such as Louisiana and Georgia in pushing back nominating contests. 
  • The coronavirus pandemic has forced states to reconsider regular voting and made Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders stop in-person presidential campaigning.
Democratic presidential hopeful former Vice President Joe Biden (L) and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (R) speak during the eighth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season co-hosted by ABC News, WMUR-TV and Apple News at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, on February 7, 2020.
Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images

Kentucky delayed its primary election on Monday, becoming the latest state to take the step to curb the spread of the coronavirus. 

The state will move its nominating contest to June 23 from the originally planned May 19, Secretary of State Michael Adams announced. He said he made the decision with Gov. Andy Beshear during what he called "unprecedented times."

"My hope is that this delay will allow us to have a normal election," Adams said in a video posted to Twitter. 

Michael Adams tweet

Several other states have already changed their election schedules as the coronavirus pandemic rages across the U.S. and paralyzes normal activity. Louisiana and Georgia delayed their planned primaries. Wyoming also canceled the in-person portion of its Democratic caucus. 

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine recommended Monday that the state delay its in-person primary voting set for Tuesday. Other states holding nominating contests Tuesday — Arizona, Florida and Illinois — have moved forward with their primaries as planned. 

The outbreak has disrupted the election process as former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders vie in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary to take on President Donald Trump later this year. The rivals have stopped holding in-person campaign events. 

Biden, who has opened up a pledged delegate lead over Sanders, hopes to extend it on Tuesday as he is favored to win every state voting. It is unclear now if disruptions to the state primaries and nominating conventions will force the Democratic National Committee to push back its planned convention in July. 

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