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Lawmakers Agree to Change Primary Date from September 11th

The state’s September primary is going to be delayed by two days, now that the legislature has agreed to move the date from Tuesday September 11th to Thursday September 13th.

Legislative leaders say firefighter groups and others who plan annual memorials for September 11th requested that the scheduled primary be delayed two days, until Thursday September 13th, and they have agreed.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, whose district includes the World Trade Center site where the planes hit the towers on September 11th 2001, says it was the right thing to do.

“We think September 11th should remain as a day of memorial,” said Silver.

There will also be a primary on June 26th for congressional and US Senate races, because the Senate and Assembly could not agree on one date for all of the primaries.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos says there is precedent for the change, lawmakers delayed the primary by two day several years ago, when September 11th  also fell on a Tuesday.  September 11th, 2001, was also a primary day for local election aces, including the New York City mayoral race.

Karen DeWitt is Capitol Bureau chief for the New York Public News Network, composed of a dozen newsrooms across the state. She has covered state government and politics for the network since 1990.