Concord, New Hampshire – Republican Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire has a warning to President Biden and Democrats.
“Skip New Hampshire at your own risk,” Sununu told Fox News Digital.
The governor spoke minutes after the nation’s first presidential primary in New Hampshire was scheduled for Jan. 23.
New Hampshire Secretary of State Dave Scanlan’s announcement on Wednesday puts the Granite State at odds with the Democratic National Committee (DNC), as their primary is now incompatible with the DNC’s 2024 nominating calendar. The state now faces penalties that could result in it losing half its delegates New Hampshire is at the Democratic presidential nominating convention next summer.
This crucial presidential primary state and the main battleground for the general election is putting pressure on Biden and the Democrats
Republican Governor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire (center) speaks after New Hampshire Secretary of State Dave Scanlan (left) sets a date for the nation’s first presidential primary of 2024, on November 15, 2023 at the State House in Concord, New Hampshire. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
An unauthorized primary led to President Biden taking his name off the ballot in New Hampshire. That prompted top Democrats in the Granite State to launch a write-in campaign in an attempt to prevent an electoral embarrassment to the president as he runs for a second term in the White House.
But Sununu, a vocal critic of Biden and the Democratic National Committee’s move to upend the Granite State’s cherished, century-old role in holding the first presidential primaries, warns that the president and his party will pay the price next November in New Hampshire. New England’s only general election battleground state.
“There is no doubt that citizens across New Hampshire, especially independents and Democrats, are noticing that they are being shut out by a national party. No one takes that kindly — especially in politics, where they are told that their votes mean nothing.” The governor stressed that it does not matter as much as it used to. “I have no doubt that he will have a huge impact in November of ’24.”
“The precedent that President Biden is likely to set is that no Democrat would dare try to bypass New Hampshire again. Because I think it would really hurt President Biden. It would hurt his chances. It hurts the Democratic Party, too,” Sununu argued. As a whole.”
National Democrats have for years castigated both Iowa — whose caucuses for half a century led the party’s nominating calendar — and New Hampshire as unrepresentative of the party as a whole because the states have large white populations with few major urban areas. Nevada and South Carolina, which in recent cycles voted third and fourth on the calendar, are far more diverse than Iowa or New Hampshire.
A sign outside the State House in Concord, New Hampshire marks the state’s first presidential center in a century. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
While Republicans have not made major changes to their schedule, the Democratic National Council earlier this year overwhelmingly approved the calendar Biden proposed late last year to move South Carolina into the primary on February 3. New Hampshire and Nevada were scheduled to hold their third primaries. Days later, Iowa lost its early state position entirely. The president and supporters of the new calendar argued that it would empower minority voters, whom Democrats have long relied on but have sometimes taken for granted.
To comply with the Democratic National Committee’s decision, New Hampshire needed to repeal a 50-year-old state law that protected her primary status as the nation’s first female president and expand access to early voting. However, with Republicans controlling the governor’s office and both chambers of the state legislature, Democrats have repeatedly argued that it was a nonstarter.
Scanlan noted that the date he selected “is consistent with our state law that requires our presidential primaries to be at least seven days before any similar event.”
The New Hampshire Secretary of State made his announcement to a crowd of national and local reporters, state officials and legislators, the chairs of the state Democratic and Republican parties, and other political leaders and dignitaries, who packed the Hall of Flags at the State House in Concord.
There are plenty of Democrats in Iowa and New Hampshire who see a shift at the front as sour grapes from Biden, who finished a disappointing fourth in the 2020 Iowa caucuses and fifth in the New Hampshire primary — before clinching the the second. In Nevada and a landslide victory in South Carolina propelled him to the nomination and eventually to the White House.
Phillips takes aim at Biden and fellow Democrats over border policies as he launches a primary challenge against the president
Fast forward to the 2024 cycle, and the president faces long-range primary challenges from two Democrats who will be on the ballot in New Hampshire.
Three-term Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, one of the wealthiest members of Congress, officially announced his candidacy for president when he filed a motion at the Statehouse on Oct. 27 to put his name on the state’s ballot. Also on the ballot in the Granite State is another contender, best-selling author and spiritual counselor Marianne Williamson, who is making her second consecutive run for the White House.
Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota shakes hands with New Hampshire Secretary of State Dave Scanlan, as he presents to place his name on the New Hampshire Democratic primary ballot, while launching a challenge for the 2024 Democratic nomination to President Biden, at the State House in Concord, New Hampshire. On October 27, 2023 (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
While the president, who turns 81 next week, is the front-runner for the nomination, opinion polls indicate that Biden faces growing concerns from Democrats about his age. These polls also indicate that many Americans, including many Democrats, do not want the president to seek a second term in the White House.
There are concerns among Granite Staters that the president and the Democratic National Committee’s move to revamp the nominating calendar, and his absence from the primary ballot, could result in a setback at the ballot box for Biden in New Hampshire.
“Personally, I think the president is making a mistake by not putting his name on the ballot here,” Scanlan told reporters.
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Looking ahead to next year’s general election, New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Chris Ager promised, “We’re going to remind people that Joe Biden doesn’t care about New Hampshire. The Republican nominee, whoever he is, will be here many times more attractive.” For people. So reminding people of this fact will help us.
“But whether he’s here or not campaigning, his policies are what’s going to be the end of him, because they’re not in the best interest of the people of New Hampshire,” Ager said.
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign in front of the New Hampshire Statehouse after filing to place his name on the state’s primary ballot, on November 8, 2019, in Concord, New Hampshire (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Democrats disagree with the Republican Party’s argument that the battle over the date of the primary elections will affect them next November.
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“We fully expect that once the primaries are over, Joe Biden will invest and campaign here, and he will be more successful than the polls have already shown. All the indications we’re getting are that New Hampshire Democrats will do very well.” “In 2024,” Ray Buckley, the state’s longtime Democratic Party chairman, told Fox News in a statement.
Biden bested Trump by nearly eight points in New Hampshire three years ago, the largest margin of victory in the swing state in a presidential contest in more than a decade.
“As every poll outside of New Hampshire has shown — including the most recent polls after the municipal election — Joe Biden is leading Donald Trump in the Granite State by a wide margin. The numbers don’t lie,” Buckley noted.
Longtime New Hampshire-based Democratic consultant Jim Demers — a top Biden supporter in the Granite State who is helping to lead primary ballot write-in efforts on behalf of the president — predicted that “once the nomination closes and the convention takes place, Joe Biden will return to the campaign trail in New Hampshire.”
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more in the Fox News Digital Election Center.