As the Democratic National Committee prepares to enter its first election season with a new primary lineup, President Joe Biden will not file to have his name appear on New Hampshire’s 2024 Democratic primary ballot, according to his reelection campaign. 

What You Need To Know

  • President Joe Biden will not file to have his name appear on New Hampshire’s 2024 Democratic primary ballot, according to his reelection campaign 
  • Earlier this year, the DNC approved a new 2024 primary calendar that shook up the order of the party’s nominating contests and removed New Hampshire as the first primary, opting to put South Carolina in the spot instead
  • State officials say they are moving ahead with holding their primary election before South Carolina’s – regardless of the DNC
  • New Hampshire Democratic primary voters can still cast a ballot for Biden by writing his name in 

The president’s 2024 campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez told the New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Raymond Buckley on Tuesday that Biden is “obligated to comply” with party rules, but looks forward to being on the general election ballot “as the nominee of the Democratic Party” after officially securing the party’s nomination. 

In response, Buckley released a statement on Tuesday, writing “The reality is that Joe Biden will win the New Hampshire First-in-the-Nation Primary in January, win renomination in Chicago and will be re-elected next November.” New Hampshire Democratic primary voters can still cast their ballot for Biden by writing in his name. 

Earlier this year, the DNC approved a new 2024 primary calendar that shook up the order of the party’s nominating contests. The new lineup puts South Carolina first on Feb. 3 – a move that Democrats argue empowers Black and other minority voters key to the party’s base. South Carolina was crucial to Biden securing the Democratic nomination in 2020. 

New Hampshire and Nevada closely follow South Carolina in the new order. 

But the Granite State has balked at the plan, arguing that it has traditionally held the nation’s opening primary — a rule that Iowa only got around by having caucuses. 

The state has yet to set a formal date for its 2024 primary, but local officials say they are moving ahead with holding their primary election before South Carolina’s – regardless of the DNC. New Hampshire Democrats say their hands are tied. Republicans control both chambers of the state legislature in New Hampshire and both the governor and secretary of state belong to the GOP. 

The DNC has warned that such a move would lead to an unsanctioned primary that could trigger sanctions, including New Hampshire potentially losing delegates to the 2024 Democratic convention in Chicago.

Biden isn’t the first sitting president to forgo appearing on New Hampshire’s primary ballot. In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson didn’t file for the state’s primary and still won via write-in, though Minnesota Sen. Eugene McCarthy’s strong second-place finish in the state helped push Johnson to announce mere weeks later that he wouldn’t seek reelection.