President Joe Biden handily won the Democratic primary in New Hampshire as a write-in candidate Tuesday, the Associated Press projected, an expected result despite his decision to abstain from appearing on the ballot amid a feud between the national and state Democratic parties.
The race was called for Biden about an hour after polls began closing at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
New Hampshire is the first state in this year’s Democratic presidential primary, consistent with tradition and in defiance of the wishes of the Democratic National Committee, which sought to make South Carolina the first-in-the-nation primary state in an effort to energize Black voters who helped secure Biden’s path to the 2020 nomination.
Biden, whose incumbent status is all-but-certain to pave his path to the Democratic nomination, opted not to appear on the ballot after the state’s Democratic Party chose not to follow suit with the DNC’s new rules—but local Biden supporters urged people to write his name in.
The race was considered unsanctioned by the DNC and no delegates will be awarded toward the Democratic nomination.
Twenty-one candidates appeared on the ballot, including Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) and author Marianne Williamson.
Despite his absence from the ballot, Biden was widely expected to cruise to victory in New Hampshire on Tuesday, with the most recent Emerson College poll showing him beating Phillips by 45 points.
The Democratic primary was called for Biden moments after former President Donald Trump was declared the winner of the GOP primary contest, beating former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
Biden volunteers launched a write-in campaign in the lead-up to New Hampshire to urge voters to pen his name on ballots. The Biden campaign sided with the DNC when it chose to move South Carolina ahead of New Hampshire, declaring its primary unsanctioned and unimportant to his ability to secure the nomination since the DNC penalized New Hampshire by removing its delegates. So far, Biden has largely centered his campaign messaging around his economic accomplishments, casting Trump as a threat to democracy and abortion access. Trump, meanwhile, has hit Biden over his border policies as illegal immigration has surged during the president’s tenure and as Congress is battling over new border controls. Trump has mostly steered clear of highlighting Biden’s age (81) as Trump, 77, battles concerns about his own mental clarity and fitness to serve.
34%. That’s the share of voters nationally who say they’ll cast their ballots for Biden in the general election in a hypothetical matchup with Trump, who has support from 38% of voters in a three-way race that includes independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the ballot, according to RealClearPolitics’ latest polling average.
