Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was in New Hampshire to promote the White House’s infrastructure agenda, but trips to the first-in-the-nation primary state evoke a different kind of campaign blitz.
At a roundtable Monday, Buttigieg was joined by Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster, an early supporter who endorsed the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor before New Hampshire’s Democratic primary in 2020. The secretary was joined by the state’s federal delegation at a pair of events, including remarks on a recently announced $25 million grant, part of a plan to invest nearly $1 billion through discretionary Transportation Department awards.
The New Hampshire Union-Leader billed the overall visit as an effort “to cheer Manchester’s development grant [and] commuter rail potential.”
Buttigieg’s deft communication skills have won praise from Democrats, with several senior White House and Democratic National Committee officials telling the Washington Examiner that they view him as the administration’s best emissary to the public.
It was a sunnier stop than when President Joe Biden arrived in New Hampshire to promote his $1 trillion legislation at the foot of a crumbling bridge last month.
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But whether Buttigieg’s swing through the Granite State can boost Democrats’ and Biden’s fortunes is unclear.
The president has said he wants to pass his Build Back Better plan by the end of the year, but the cost of the bill has led to difficulties in getting some Democrats on board. And while New Hampshire’s Senate and congressional delegations, all Democrats, are all on board, voters in the state have expressed concerns.
The social spending legislation is underwater with New Hampshire registered voters — 45% approval to 55% disapproval, according to a Dec. 9-10 survey conducted by New England Polling for the New Hampshire Journal. A majority said they thought the more than $2 trillion cost would add to inflation, already a concern for the White House.
Biden’s visit last month after signing his bipartisan infrastructure bill into law has done little to quiet speculation over who could lead the party going into 2024, chatter that has heightened as former rivals set foot in the state.
“There’s a lot of questions about what’s going to happen in four years,” former New Hampshire state House Speaker Stephen Shurtleff, a Biden supporter, told the Washington Examiner.
Biden took fifth place in Democrats’ New Hampshire primary race, landing behind Sen. Bernie Sanders and Buttigieg, among others. Though he later defeated incumbent Donald Trump by seven percentage points, his popularity has since fallen.
The White House has sought to tamp down speculation that Biden may not seek reelection in 2024, with the president stating publicly and privately that he intends to run again. But Buttigieg isn’t the only Democrat heading north.
During an appearance at a New Hampshire Democrats event on Friday, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker made brewing speculation over a future Democratic Party ticket the center of a joke.
“I am running for president … of the Maggie Hassan fan club,” Booker quipped at a New Hampshire Democrats event on Friday, according to a tweet shared by WBUR’s John DiStasa.
Democrats could face a showdown if Biden chooses not to run.
“It might end up being an open presidential primary in 2024, and they want to keep their names out among the New Hampshire voters and not have people in New Hampshire forget them,” Shurtleff said.
Last week, a Havard-Harris poll showed Booker earning 5% support among Democrats in a hypothetical 2024 contest, with Buttigieg scraping 3%. While Biden failed to net majority support, garnering 36%, that far outpaced voters’ next best choice, Vice President Kamala Harris, with 16%.
Getting to know New Hampshire Democrats could pay dividends down the line, notably for Buttigieg, whose support to the state through millions of dollars of federal grant-making is already making waves.
“We think of the vice president as almost being the heir apparent. And contrary to what some Democrats and others say, I think she’s done a good job as vice president,” Shurtleff said. “Four years ago, I was very impressed with Mayor Buttigieg, and I think he’s done a good job with the Department of Transportation, especially with the new legislation.”
Shurtleff refrained from sharing an endorsement, telling the Washington Examiner that “like the typical New Hampshire Democrat, you’ve got to meet the candidates three or four times.”
Biden, meanwhile, faces an uphill road.
Nearly half of the New Hampshire Journal survey respondents said the president’s performance had failed to meet their expectations. Forty-three percent said his first year in office had fared “worse than expected,” and 70% said the country was on the wrong track. And while 43% approved of the job he is doing, 57% did not.
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Biden fared worse among independent and unaffiliated voters, potentially imperiling Democrats next year. According to the poll, 57% of unaffiliated voters and 59% of swing voters had a strongly unfavorable view of the president.
The poll of 729 registered voters had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
