President Biden kept his name off the Democratic primary ballot in New Hampshire after he decided the state should lose its first-in-the-nation status. But leading Democrats in the state have thought better of that, beginning a write-in campaign for the president; Biden could face embarrassment now that Rep. Dean Phillips has entered the race, Politico reports. The effort is organized by top New Hampshire political operatives and backed by all Democratic state senators and the party's two candidates for governor, among others. The filing with the Federal Election Commission uses the name "Granite State Write-In."
The Biden campaign and the New Hampshire Democratic Party are out of it. They could face delegate penalties from the national party if they were involved, per USA Today. The state and national parties are battling over when the primary will be held, which may turn out to be in January. "The fate of our democracy itself hangs in the balance in the 2024 election," the website for the write-in effort says. "That starts with supporting Joe Biden in New Hampshire's 2024 First in the Nation primary."
New Hampshire's secretary of state said he's urging local election officials have extra help in anticipation of a crush of write-ins. David Scanlan called Biden's decision to skip his state's primary a mistake. He said he expects Phillips and 2020 candidate Marianne Williamson to campaign in the state, "just to get the media attention." At Biden's behest, the Democratic National Committee decided to make South Carolina's the first 2024 primary and New Hampshire's the second, on the same day as Nevada's. New Hampshire has rejected that plan because state law requires it to go first. (More President Biden stories.)
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