In a nutshell, the Democratic National Committee is fighting with the New Hampshire Democratic Party.
New Hampshire has a law stating that it must be the first primary in the nation, and for years both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party obliged. (Iowa has a caucus, not a primary, although they serve the same function.) But the Democrats decided to change things up last year, opting to give South Carolina the honor of having the first Democratic presidential primary, thus increasing the racial diversity of the earliest voting states.
New Hampshire went ahead with its election plans anyway. In a scathing letter sent earlier this month, DNC officials told NHDP officials their primary was “meaningless” and stood to confuse voters.
“[P]residential candidates should take all steps possible not to participate,” the letter said.
The office of New Hampshire’s Republican attorney general responded, accusing the DNC of voter suppression.
Biden sided with the national party. He also does not appear to put much stock in the state — in the 2020 election, he fared so poorly there that he did not even stick around to see the results.
Biden’s Democratic challengers’ names appear on the ballot, but New Hampshirites who hope to support the president will have to vote for him as a write-in candidate.
