Joe Biden wins New Hampshire primary despite not being on ballot
President Joe Biden won the New Hampshire Democratic primary, despite his name not appearing on the state’s presidential primary ballot.
The Associated Press called the race for Mr Biden shortly after polls closed on Tuesday night, as a majority of voters wrote in the president’s name.
Mr Biden’s campaign purposefully did not file the president’s name for the ballot within the deadline in an act of solidarity with the Democratic National Convention’s (DNC) decision to make South Carolina the first state to hold a primary.
New Hampshire, which hosts the first in the nation primary per state law, refused to budge on moving their primary date, creating tension with the DNC. The DNC said those who ran Tuesday’s primary would not be awarded delegates, prompting Mr Biden’s campaign to comply.
But in an unusual move, voters still chose to write in Mr Biden’s name rather than vote for the two names who did appear on the ballot, Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips and self-help author Marianne Williamson.
Mr Biden’s win is likely to reassure Democrats that the president still holds support from a majority of voters in the party.
Officials will likely spend the night counting write-in votes in the Granite State to determine the exact number Mr Biden received.
Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump maintained his stronghold over Republican primary voters, winning the GOP primary over his opponent, Nikki Haley.
Although the New Hampshire primary holds considerably less power than the others to come, if the results tell Americans anything, it’s that 2024 could be a rematch between Mr Trump and Mr Biden.
However, early primary and caucus states do not always accurately predict who the nominee, or eventual winner, will be.
In 2020, Mr Trump won the Republican primary with more than 80 per cent of the vote as the incumbent. Meanwhile, Mr Biden only received 8 per cent of the Democratic vote – coming in fifth. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders won with approximately 25 per cent of the vote.
Mr Biden would go on to win both the Democratic nomination and the White House that year.
Now that New Hampshire’s primary has finished, heads are turning to South Carolina, where Democrats will host a caucus.
