HANOVER, N.H. (WCAX) – On Tuesday, voters will head to the polls for New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary. But incumbent President Joe Biden won’t be on the ballot; 21 other Democrats will be, including Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips, who is campaigning in our region Thursday night.
Phillips is making his pitch to voters in Hanover. He says Americans deserve another choice, and he’s hoping New Hampshire will be a launching pad for his campaign.
But a tiff over New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation status is causing conflict between state and national Democrats.
It’s a first for the first-in-the-nation primary. For decades– and under a state law– New Hampshire voters cast their ballots in the presidential primary after the Iowa caucus.
“I’ve been to enough of these things, they actually take it very seriously,” said Linda Fowler, a political scientist at Dartmouth College.
It gave Granite State voters the ability to vet candidates and give them momentum leading into other early primary states.
Last year, at the direction of President Biden, the Democratic National Committee moved South Carolina– a state critical to his 2020 victory– up in the electoral calendar ahead of New Hampshire. The DNC says it’s aimed at having early states more accurately reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of Americans.
“As a New Hampshirite, I’m not sure I disagree with what they did except they are postponing the inevitable,” Fowler said.
But the state party is holding the primary despite the DNC stripping New Hampshire of its 23 delegates to the DNC convention this summer.
“Some Democrats are furious and some blame this whole mess on the Republicans because they had the power to change the law and they refused to,” Fowler said.
So on Tuesday, Democratic voters will see several names on the ballot, including author Marianne Williamson and Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips. But Joe Biden will not appear on the ballot, and his camp is instead conducting a write-in campaign.
Phillips is putting a big focus and ad dollars on New Hampshire in hopes it will give him momentum into other early primary states. He says he agrees with the incumbent president and his policies on many issues. But with concerns over Biden’s age, Phillips contends voters deserve a second choice. Phillips has a rally in Hanover on Thursday evening.
The New Hampshire primaries kick off on Tuesday.