Inside the 'weird' write-in campaign needed to help Biden win New Hampshire
Joe Biden's supporters in New Hampshire are organizing a low-budget write-in campaign to help him win the state's "meaningless" primary.
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Like a jilted lover reluctantly coming to the aid of a former partner in need, New Hampshire Democrats have largely decided to help Joe Biden win their beloved primary this month — even though many are still mad he tried to kill it.
“I love Joe Biden, I think he’s just been a great president,” said former state Democratic Party Chair Kathy Sullivan, now running a pro-Biden super PAC. “Having said that, I’m still pissed. But you compartmentalize that. You just put that aside.”
Last year, Biden tried to end New Hampshire’s 100-year reign as the nation’s first presidential primary state when he directed the Democratic National Committee to overhaul the 2024 primary calendar by putting South Carolina (which he won in 2020) ahead of New Hampshire (which he lost).
His allies are now waging what has to be one of the most unusual campaigns in American presidential history ahead of next week's vote: A write-in campaign with a shoestring budget on behalf of the most powerful man in the world, trying to help him win a contest in which he is not technically competing and one which he would rather see not even exist.
New Hampshire, whose political class holds the primary as sacred as the Red Sox, just went ahead and scheduled its primary in its usual place right after Iowa’s caucuses, essentially telling the DNC to go pound granite and even threatening the committee with legal action. (As a result, the DNC says it won't seat New Hampshire's delegates at the summer nominating convention.)
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