President Joe Biden, on a primary roll
With some votes still left to be counted, President Joe Biden won the New Hampshire 2024 Democratic presidential primary this past Tuesday without even having his name on the ballot. Biden captured 64 percent of the vote, with a margin of victory of approximately 45 percent over the second-place finisher. What is really remarkable is that all of President Biden’s votes were write-ins. That’s because, as we indicated a few weeks ago, at the urging of President Biden and his campaign, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) voted to request New Hampshire and Iowa to move their primary and caucus, respectively, to a later date, after that of South Carolina (which holds its Democratic primary on February 3), in order to “increase diversity” early in the process. However, while Iowa agreed to move its Democratic caucus to March 5, New Hampshire refused to do so. As a result, President Biden did not place his name on the ballot for the New Hampshire primary, thus only write-in votes would count for Biden.
Normally, there would have been approximately 33 Democratic delegates at stake in New Hampshire. However, due to the dispute with the DNC, no Democratic delegates will be allocated to any candidate in this year’s Granite State primary. As for the remaining states, it will take roughly 1,965-1,970 delegates (different sources give slightly different numbers) to win the Democratic presidential nomination this year.
On the Republican side, the New Hampshire primary was much closer. Donald Trump bested Nimrata Nikki Haley by only 11 percent (54.3 to 43.3). That should be cause for alarm amongst the Trump camp and their supporters. Importantly, and to the consternation of these Trump supporters, Haley stated after Tuesday night’s results that she is staying in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Her campaign seems to be dependent on Trump having to withdraw, either for legal or medical reasons. Along those lines, Haley has been attacking Trump regarding his age and mental fitness. Such competition from Haley, and Trump’s own weak performance in New Hampshire, should therefore provide plenty of fodder for the Democrats to attack Trump as well. We certainly urge Democrats to hammer Trump on these weaknesses at every opportunity.
Ultimately, both Biden and Trump should have their nominations effectively locked up after Super Tuesday, March 5, when 16 states plus American Samoa hold their contests. However, only President Biden can be expected to have smooth sailing until then.
Photo by Maryland GovPics, used under Creative Commons license. https://shorturl.at/boM34
