President Joe Biden has prevailed in New Hampshire‘s unsanctioned 2024 Democratic primary after a campaign by his supporters to write his name on ballots in the state.
Biden, an incumbent president who has more primary challengers than former President Donald Trump, was projected to win the Democratic nominating contest shortly after polls closed at 8 p.m. ET, according to the Associated Press on Tuesday.
With 85% of the ballots in, Biden had tallied at least a third of the votes, while another third were write-in votes that had yet to be processed. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) and author Marianne Williamson received 20% and 5% of the vote, respectively.
The White House and Biden’s campaign have tiptoed around the prospect of a political embarrassment for the president in New Hampshire after he pressed the Democratic National Committee to demote the Granite State on his party’s primary calendar despite a state law that its nominating contest be the first in the nation. There was also a late push to write in “ceasefire” instead of “Biden” in protest of his response to the Israel–Gaza war after Hama‘s Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were in Virginia on Tuesday contending Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, were undermining freedoms, most notably regarding abortion after the Supreme Court repealed Roe v. Wade in 2022.
“I have not spoken to him on how he’s going to be taking in the results tonight,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. “So I don’t have anything, specifics to share on how that’s going to, how the president is going to be spending his evening, but certainly he is always, certainly always focused on the American people.”
“Does he have any concerns that he might lose that write-in campaign?” a reporter asked.
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“The president’s concern right now is making sure we continue to deliver for the American people,” Jean-Pierre replied. “That’s his focus.”
Democrats’ first nominating contest for delegates that will count toward becoming their standard-bearer in 2024 will take place in South Carolina on Feb. 3. In 2020, Biden came in fourth in Iowa and fifth in New Hampshire before winning the Palmetto State, the first primary he won in three presidential campaigns.
