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Tags: joe biden | new hampshire | primary | election | south carolina | dnc | 2024 election

Dems Scramble to Avoid Biden Gaffe in New Hampshire

By    |   Thursday, 18 May 2023 09:11 PM EDT

Top Democrats are racing against the clock to prevent a fiasco in New Hampshire in which President Joe Biden may not appear on the state's primary ballot, thereby ceding the first unofficial contest of 2024 to another candidate, Politico reported Thursday.

Some are saying the consequences of this fiasco are of Biden's own making; his insistence on moving South Carolina to the front of the line — as a reward to the state for propelling him to the nomination in 2020 — contradicts an existing New Hampshire law that requires the state's primary to always take place first, one week before any others.

This move, however, places New Hampshire second in the lineup, on a shared date with Nevada.

According to Politico, if Republicans in charge of New Hampshire GOP Gov. Chris Sununu's office and the state Legislature continue refusing to act on the matter, there's the possibility a primary can be held without the current president's name appearing on the ballot.

Democratic National Committee (DNC) members, including American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, are privately deliberating over giving the Granite State more time. However, they'll need to move fast — a June 3 deadline looms for the state to forge ahead on changing its law or get kicked out of the official early voting lineup.

"If there's any opportunity for this to get resolved by New Hampshire having more time," said Weingarten, "all of us will say, 'Give New Hampshire more time.'"

According to James Roosevelt Jr., co-chair of the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee, New Hampshire Democrats are aware of another alternative. "In states where state legislatures have refused to comply with the party rules," he said, "the state parties have run primaries that are conducted by the party."

Democrats in the Granite State, however, don't see things that way. They remain irate that their repeated requests not to be "punished" by the national party have gone ignored, and at this time, they appear unwilling to consider alternatives.

"We can't change our laws and that's that. We're hosting the first primary," said Ray Buckley, chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. "The president can decide if he wants to put his name on the ballot."

If Biden chooses to consider campaigning in a rogue state, he risks losing the first unofficial contest to Democrat candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson. That may not derail Biden's renomination, but it is almost certain to be viewed as an unflattering distraction, and an embarrassing start for the nomination process, Politico reports.

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Top Democrats are racing against the clock to prevent a fiasco in New Hampshire in which President Joe Biden may not appear on the state's primary ballot, thereby ceding the first unofficial contest of 2024 to another candidate, Politico reported Thursday.
joe biden, new hampshire, primary, election, south carolina, dnc, 2024 election
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2023-11-18
Thursday, 18 May 2023 09:11 PM
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