President Joe Biden attends the White House Correspondents Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton on Saturday, April 27, 2024.
Manuel Balce Senator/AP Photo
The Democratic National Committee plans to welcome New Hampshire delegates to its national nominating convention in Chicago this summer after the state party held a very small party-driven presidential primary this weekend.
A formal vote to return the New Hampshire Democratic Party to the fold is scheduled for Tuesday at the next meeting of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee, which oversees the party's nomination calendar.
The Granite State Democratic Party faced losing the state's delegates at the Democratic presidential primary in January and the national convention in August. The primary ignored the DNC's new presidential nominating calendar passed a year ago, which upended New Hampshire's century-old tradition of holding its first white primary. House.
Officials told the Monitor that dozens of people voted in the New Hampshire Democratic Party's “Firehouse” primary on Saturday at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. The party-led primary was first reported by Politico.
A quiet primary brought New Hampshire to DNC rules.
“We want to ensure that the NHDP conducts this weekend’s primary successfully, that the delegate selection process complies with (Rules and Bylaws Committee) rules, and that New Hampshire Democratic voters have a voice. “We congratulate the party on securing the opportunity to be represented at the party's convention in August,” the party said. the DNC said in a statement.
“The delegate selection process is complete and delegates will be seated at the convention,” longtime state party chairman Ray Buckley said in a statement. “We are fully committed to re-electing President Biden.”
For years, Democrats have identified Iowa (where the caucuses marked the beginning of a half-century of nominating calendars) and New Hampshire as states with few large metropolitan areas and majority white populations for party-wide recognition. have been criticized for not representing the Nevada and South Carolina were added to the Democratic calendar about 20 years ago to increase the diversity of voters in the early states, and until recently they were voting third and fourth on the calendar.
Republicans made no major changes to the 2024 schedule, but the DNC followed Biden's lead early last year with an overwhelming calendar that moved South Carolina into first place and New Hampshire into second place with Nevada. It was approved.
But New Hampshire did just that, adhering to state law requiring presidential primaries to be held in advance. That meant the state's nomination contest on Jan. 23 was not sanctioned by the national Democratic Party.
The president withdrew his name from the ballot and distanced himself from the state, but a coordinated write-in effort by Democratic establishment leaders in New Hampshire helped him defeat tough challengers in the primary. He won easily.
With the primary election in his rearview mirror, Biden visited New Hampshire in March for the first time in nearly two years.
“I'm amazed at the write-in campaign you've run,” Biden told supporters during a campaign stop in Manchester. “I was surprised and really happy.”
Biden then said to laughter, “I was very careful not to come here.''
Although the New Hampshire Democratic Party technically faces severe sanctions for holding the January primary without approval, an agreement with national party leadership to reinstate delegates to the convention is expected. Ta.
Jim Clyburn, a longtime South Carolina lawmaker, the top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives and a close ally of Mr. Biden, told the DNC on the night of the nation's first presidential primary, saying, “Please do not maintain this.” New Hampshire v. Democratic Party. ”
“Let's get the Democratic delegates in New Hampshire to vote at the convention,” Clyburn said from the stage next to Democratic National Committee Chairman Jamie Harrison.
