President Joe Biden has won the New Hampshire primary, calming the anxieties of Democrats concerned that lagging enthusiasm over his campaign and the absence of his name from the ballot could add up to an embarrassing defeat.
Those worries led Biden loyalists to launch an unofficial write-in campaign for the president, encouraging rank-and-file Democrats to go to the polls to make a show of support for the incumbent president. He was not among the 21 candidates listed on the ballot after New Hampshire defied the primary calendar set by the national Democratic Party.
While the Biden campaign will welcome the result as a positive sign of enthusiasm for the 81-year-old’s reelection bid, the victory is just that: symbolic. Because of the internal party clash, Biden did not register for the primary and the results will not yield any nominating delegates. The byproduct of the infighting was an unusually tense run-up to the contest amid concerns that the president, already struggling to excite the Democratic base, could fail to rouse enough support to avoid what would have been a mortifying result.
As those worries grew, Biden surrogates began to promote a write-in campaign aimed at Granite State Democrats and the “undeclared” independents who wanted a say in the Democratic primary. Biden himself did not campaign in New Hampshire. On Tuesday in northern Virginia, he and Vice President Kamala Harris hosted a rally for abortion rights as part of the soft launch of their 2024 general election campaign.
Biden’s absence from the ballot is the most visible fallout from his and the DNC’s decision to push South Carolina to the front of the primary calendar in a nod to its diversity and role in rejuvenating the former vice president’s 2020 primary campaign. However, the state of New Hampshire decided to schedule its primary ahead of South Carolina’s anyway, in accordance with their own laws, creating a standoff that ultimately led the DNC to calling the results “meaningless” before a vote was cast.
The Biden campaign will be closely watching the race between Trump and Haley. If Trump comes out with an overwhelming victory, Tuesday’s results could amount to the start of a rematch of the last presidential election. Haley has sought to temper her supporters’ expectations, but a weak showing could spell the end of her campaign.
This story has been updated with additional details.