Biden won’t be on New Hampshire primary ballot after calendar change

President Biden is planning to officially forgo the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary as the Granite State battles the Democratic National Committee to keep its longtime spot on the nominating calendar.

The Biden campaign told New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley Tuesday that the president will “refrain from submitting a Declaration of Candidacy” in order to comply with the DNC’s new schedule, which has South Carolina as the first contest Feb. 3, 2024.

“While the president wishes to participate in the primary, he is obligated as a Democratic candidate for President to comply with the Delegate Selection Rules for the 2024 Democratic National Convention,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez wrote Buckley.

“On October 24, 2023, the Democratic National Committee’s Rules & Bylaws Committee issued guidance urging Democratic campaigns to refrain from placing candidates’ names on the ballot.”

Top Democrats in New Hampshire will likely stage a write-in campaign on Biden’s behalf. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) is expected to appear on the state ballot as part of his late primary challenge to the president.

The DNC’s calendar changes elevate the state credited with rescuing Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign after a fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and a fifth-place finish in the New Hampshire primary.

South Carolina is also the home state of DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison.

Party officials argue that South Carolina is a more appropriate venue for the first primary due to its more diverse population than either Iowa or New Hampshire.

However, New Hampshire law requires that the state hold its presidential primary on “the second Tuesday in March or on a date selected by the secretary of state which is [seven] days or more immediately preceding the date on which any other state shall hold a similar election, whichever is earlier.”

The New England state has held the first primary election of every presidential cycle since 1920.

MY RESPONSE TO BIDEN DECISION:“The reality is that Joe Biden will win the NH FITN Primary in January, win renomination in Chicago and will be re-elected next November. NH voters know and trust Joe Biden that’s why he is leading Trump in NH by double digits.” #nhpolitics

“The reality is that Joe Biden will win the NH FITN Primary in January, win renomination in Chicago and will be re-elected next November,” Buckley said Tuesday afternoon on X. “NH voters know and trust Joe Biden that’s why he is leading [former President Donald] Trump in NH by double digits.”

“The decision of President Biden to shun the voters of the New Hampshire ‘First-in-the-Nation’ Presidential Primary is not unexpected but still disappointing,” state Secretary of State David Scanlan said in a statement.

“Despite all the rhetoric about diversity in the presidential nominating process, this issue is really about who determines the eventual nominee – the national political party or the voters.”

The new DNC calendar has the South Carolina primary followed on Feb. 6 by Nevada and New Hampshire, with Michigan’s primary on Feb. 27.

Both parties will hold their Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15 of this year, with the New Hampshire Republican primary likely to be held later in the month.

Currently, the only eligible declared Democratic challenger to Biden is author and spiritual guru Marianne Williamson, who is pulling about 9% support nationwide, according to RealClearPolitics.

Despite his plans to forgo the primary in New Hampshire, Biden’s campaign underscored that he “looks forward to having his name on New Hampshire’s general election ballot as the nominee of the Democratic Party after officially securing the [party] nomination.”

Biden, 80 holds a 9.4 percentage point lead over Trump, 77, in the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate of the New Hampshire general election showdown.