The Republican National Committee meets January 23-24 in Washington, D.C. See NBC’s First Read article at this link (scroll down to the third item, “RNC to Consider Changes to 2016 Calendar.” The party will decide whether to hold its 2016 national convention in either June or July, which would be a substantial change from 2012, when its convention was in September. The party will also decide whether to require that presidential primaries all be held before 35 days, or 45 days, before the convention.

If the party chooses June, and especially if it then chooses 45 days, it could no longer use its presidential primaries in New Jersey, Montana, New Mexico, and South Dakota, unless it can persuade state legislatures in those states to hold earlier presidential primaries. Under current law, those states hold their presidential primaries in June.