‘In My Heart Of Hearts, No’: New Hampshire Dems React To Potential Biden Re-Election Bid
President Joe Biden isn’t a popular guy amongst some New Hampshire Democrats — at least in part because the party changed its primary schedule and knocked the Granite State from its “first in the nation” (FITN) perch at the president’s request, according to a former New Hampshire governor.
New Hampshire voters of all stripes — who take immense pride in historically hosting the first primary for both major parties — are upset over the Democratic Party’s decision to give South Carolina the honor of “FITN” in 2024. Due to that change, Biden could lose the state’s four electoral votes in the general election, according to ex-New Hampshire Governor John Lynch (D).
“It could cost Democrats the presidency,” Lynch told the Associated Press. “Republicans won’t let voters forget. They’ll hammer the Democrats on this.”
Steve Shurtleff, a former speaker of the New Hampshire House and current Democratic state representative, is also gunshy about Biden’s potential re-election campaign.
“In my heart of hearts, no,” Shurtleff told the media outlet when asked if he wants Biden to run in 2024. “I think a lot of people just don’t want to say it.”
Biden has not announced his re-election campaign officially, but he has said that it is his “intention” to run again. In February, the Democratic National Committee voted to remove New Hampshire from first in line.
Why? Well, apparently the state is too white.
“This calendar does what is long overdue,” DNC chair Jaime Harrison told NBC News at the time. “It puts Black voters at the front of the process in South Carolina. It keeps Nevada, where Latinos have been building power … and it adds Michigan, the heartland, where unions built the middle class of this nation. And Georgia, the forefront of the new South.”
Harrison claimed that the new calendar reflects America’s racial makeup.
“The Democratic Party looks like America,” Harrison claimed, “and so does this proposal.”
The move also could block any would-be Biden challengers from mounting momentum. In 2020, Biden finished first in the South Carolina primary yet failed to crack the top four in New Hampshire.
In New Hampshire, Laconia Democratic Committee Chairman Eric Hoffman claimed that his state would prefer to see a change.
“The party kind of lined up because he was the nominee, but he obviously wasn’t our first four choices,” Hoffman said. “People would prefer to see a change.”
Right now, Biden has only one challenger — self-help author Marianne Williamson. Yet, many have speculated that Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) may hop in the race. In 2020, he trounced Biden in New Hampshire’s primary by more than 50,000 votes.
