Robert Van Houweling was quoted in UC Berkeley News:
California, the most-populous state, has moved its presidential primary up to Super Tuesday, March 3. So has the second-most-populous state, Texas. Six of the 16 most-populous states will be among the nine to hold primaries that day, meaning 28.75 percent of the U.S. population will have a chance to get in on picking the presidential candidates.
“It’s going to change things,” UC Berkeley political science professor Rob Van Houweling says. “With California and Texas going that early, Latino votes will probably be weighted more heavily. So, for someone like Julian Castro or another Latino candidate, that could be an advantage.
“And it could be an advantage to a candidate from California like Kamala Harris or Eric Garcetti,” Van Houweling continues. “These are politicians who already have name recognition. On the other hand, you can’t count on just name recognition. Donald Trump beat Marco Rubio in Florida in 2016.”
The full article is available here.