Joe Biden is absent from New Hampshire. Some Democrats aren’t pleased
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When New Hampshire Democrats fill out their ballots during the first-in-the-nation primary Tuesday, one name will be missing from the list of candidates: President Joe Biden.
After months of back-and-forth between the Democratic National Committee and the New Hampshire Democratic Party, the state is moving forward with its legislature-mandated primary. The DNC won’t recognize it, though, refusing to assign any delegates to the winner and calling the contest “meaningless.” The New Hampshire attorney general’s office has responded in kind — sending the DNC a cease-and-desist letter.
It’s the culmination of a long push by Democrats to deemphasize New Hampshire’s prominent place in the electoral calendar, opting instead to promote South Carolina, which the party says is more racially representative of the nation. But the move has infuriated some voters in the Granite State, who’ve held their position as the first-in-the-nation primary for over a century.
Rep. Dean Phillips, a three-term Democrat from Minnesota, is attempting to translate that dissatisfaction into momentum for his nascent presidential campaign. Phillips announced late last year that he would challenge Biden for the Democratic nomination, the only sitting lawmaker to do so.
To this point, Phillips has focused exclusively on New Hampshire, zig-zagging the state to talk with voters at diners or to hand out free coffee in parking lots. His broad pitch to Democrats is that they should have a chance to vote for the presidential candidate they wish, and he doesn’t think the octogenarian Biden can win a head-to-head matchup with Donald Trump in November.
He is well aware that the votes cast for him in New Hampshire won’t win him any delegates toward winning the Democratic nomination. But he sees a strong turnout on Tuesday as a way to “send a message” that Democrats want other options.
At a campaign rally in Hanover, New Hampshire, on Thursday, Phillips told voters that democracy “thrives with competition,” and he saw his campaign against Biden — a president who he’s supported — as a civic duty.
“I’m not here to talk smack about the DNC,” he said. “But as you all know, their mission was to deprive you of a vote, to disenfranchise this state, in an effort to pave the path for coronation.”
The Phillips campaign rented out an event space in the historic Hanover Inn at Dartmouth College, a hotel that has hosted presidents including Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, for the event. Around 150 people showed up, listening to speeches from Phillips and Andrew Yang, the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and Forward Party founder. Yang announced his support for Phillips Thursday.
Biden is “a good man, a true public servant and a great American,” Yang said. “He was the right candidate four years ago. He is not the right candidate for 2024.”
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While the New Hampshire primary will have no effect on the numbers for the Democratic nomination, Biden’s allies in New Hampshire launched a write-in campaign, urging Democratic and independent voters to turn out regardless. A poor showing in New Hampshire could intensify concerns about Biden’s sinking favorability and his age.
In recent months, Biden’s favorability rating sunk below 40%, the lowest of his presidency. The sharpest drop came among young voters, a group which Phillips is attempting to target.
Khaqan Ahmad, a student at Dartmouth’s medical school, told the Deseret News he voted for Biden in 2020. “But his recent foreign policy blunders, especially with what’s going on in Gaza, has really turned me off from the Biden campaign,” he said. “And I’ve kind of made a promise to myself to never vote for him again.”
After attending Phillips’ event in Hanover and hearing his stance on Medicare for all, Ahmad said he plans to vote for Phillips.
Phillips has faced criticism from many of his Democratic colleagues, who warn that his candidacy could harm Biden’s reelection chances or distract from the goal of defeating Trump. In recent days, he has been criticized for removing a reference to diversity, equity and inclusion on his campaign website, shortly after receiving a large donation from anti-DEI crusader Bill Ackman.
After New Hampshire, Phillips will turn his attention to other early primaries in Nevada, South Carolina and Michigan. Yang told the Deseret News that efforts to hold uncompetitive primaries in Florida and North Carolina were “illegal and unconstitutional.”
“What else do you call it when you cancel an election?” Yang said. “You’re seeing the parties enforce control and disenfranchise voters in different ways.”
