GOFFSTOWN, N.H. — President Joe Biden returned to New Hampshire after a two year absence on Monday, when he addressed Granite State voters for the first time this election cycle despite the state’s first-in-the-nation primary.

Biden was in town, according to the White House, to deliver “remarks on lowering costs for American families” and to meet with supporters of his bid for a second term.

After landing at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport before 1 p.m., Biden made his way to the YMCA Allard Center in Goffstown, where he attempted to explain away the disparity between an apparently booming American economy and the distinct feelings to the contrary experienced by many families.

“Does anybody think the tax code is fair? Well I don’t either,” he said “I’m going to keep fighting like hell to make it fair.”

“Folks, it’s about fundamental fairness,” he said.

Biden spoke for about 20 minutes, when he explained his administration’s efforts to lower healthcare costs, a new rule that will allow Medicare to negotiate prices with drug manufacturers, and Affordable Care Act tax cuts he’s enacted.

The president defended long-popular social programs, saying that if Republicans wanted to cut Social Security or Medicare, he “would stop them.”

The president said his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, added trillions to the deficit and that just Monday morning, was pushing for changes to social security and Medicaid to help with the debt problem.

“I’m not going to let it happen,” Biden said.

Trump, he said, failed in the “most basic” duty of a president.

“Duty to care,” Biden said. “You leave no one behind.”

Biden was also scheduled for a campaign event in Manchester before an evening flight back to Washington D.C.

Biden was last seen in New Hampshire in April of 2022, when he was in Portsmouth touting his Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, about a year before he’d made his intentions to seek reelection official.

Biden dodged the state after his April 2023 announcement that he would make another run for the White House.  In addition to not holding a single campaign event or party fundraiser, he didn’t even file nominating papers with the New Hampshire Secretary of State.

The president’s campaign and the New Hampshire Democratic Party have made clear Biden’s absence on the party ticket wasn’t a matter of disagreement between the president and the state, but rather an uneasy solution to a debacle created by the national party, which wanted South Carolina first in the primary calendar this cycle.

That was a problem, because New Hampshire law says the state must hold its primary first, and the state party has no control over that rule. NHDP officials were warned their delegates might be left out of consideration at the Democratic National Convention altogether if they held their primary before South Carolina.

Biden’s campaign, looking to avoid a fight, instead chose to just leave his name out of the running in New Hampshire and comply with the DNC. At the same time, his campaign said the president would not forget about the Granite State.

“The president looks forward to having his name on New Hampshire’s general election ballot as the nominee of the Democratic Party after officially securing the nomination at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, where he will tirelessly campaign to earn every single vote in the Granite State next November,” Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the 46th president’s campaign manager wrote to NHDP Chairman Ray Buckley.

Biden went on to win the primary anyway, securing about 64% of the vote and beating U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips and author Marianne Williamson, via a grass-roots backed write in effort.

His trip there Monday represented the first chance he’s had to thank the voters who pushed for his write-in win.

“It’s wonderful to have the President back here,” U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan said. New Hampshire’s senior senator praised Biden’s work on lowering prescription drug costs and capping the price of insulin for Medicare recipients.

“We finally beat big pharma,” Biden said.

The president was met at the YMCA by a small group of Trump-flag-wielding protestors also holding “let’s go Brandon” signs. While Biden spoke, the sound of the protestors could be heard through the walls of the building.

“Let’s go, Brandon,” someone chanted through a bullhorn throughout Biden’s speech.