The Democratic National Committee and New Hampshire are in the middle of a fight over the state's refusal to cede its first-in-the-nation presidential primary status, a move that could cost New Hampshire Democrats at the party's 2024 nominating convention.
The DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee met on Thursday and extended New Hampshire's deadline to Oct. 14 to submit a plan that is in compliance with the 2024 presidential primary schedule. The committee decided in February to replace New Hampshire with South Carolina as the first-in-the-nation Democratic primary state and move New Hampshire to second place along with Nevada.
PELOSI DODGES ENDORSING KAMALA HARRIS AS BIDEN'S RUNNING MATE
However, the state breezed by the Sept. 1 deadline and multiple other deadline extensions set by the DNC, a decision that could affect the number of delegates allowed to participate at the convention. Secretary of State David Scanlan said in a statement to the Washington Examiner that “New Hampshire will schedule its presidential primary independent of what is discussed at the DNC meeting" held Thursday.
States that break the rules and decide to go out of the primary calendar order can see their delegates cut by 50%, and candidates who campaign in the state won't receive any delegates, according to rules passed by the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee last August. The rules can be amended by the committee, which means there are no guaranteed ramifications against New Hampshire as of yet.
However, if New Hampshire decides to hold its primary ahead of South Carolina, which is scheduled for Feb. 3, 2024, President Joe Biden will likely refuse to campaign in an early contest and remove his name from the Granite State's ballot so as to not violate party rules — though voters could write his name in. Biden, whose successful 2020 nomination was bolstered because of his success in South Carolina, elected to shift Iowa and New Hampshire out of their token first-place contest spots for 2024.
Similar to Iowa, New Hampshire has submitted a 2024 plan to the DNC but provided no primary date. State law requires the Republican and Democratic primaries to be held on the same day, and New Hampshire still remains the GOP's first-in-the-nation primary state. The DNC has asked New Hampshire to change its voting laws but, so far, there has been no action taken to push a voting law overhaul through the Republican-led legislature.
Scanlan, who has sole authority over scheduling the primary, said during a news conference on Wednesday that he expects the state to be in non-compliance with the DNC.
“I don’t think it’s a secret that we’re going to be going ahead of South Carolina, which puts us into January,” Scanlan said.
The secretary of state answered "No" when asked whether he was "OK" with losing delegates if the state refuses to hold the primary after South Carolina, defending New Hampshire's early primary status.
“It is more important for New Hampshire to have the early primary because it allows maximum participation from anybody that wants to put their name out there as a candidate,” he said. “If the president wins a majority of the vote through write-in and as a result of that is awarded delegates that get sent to the convention, is he really not going to let them in and what is that going to look like from a media perspective? I think the DNC will have some soul-searching to do if that’s going to be the penalty.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Scanlan has not selected a primary date, stating that he will be watching the decisions of other states. He did announce that candidates can sign up between Oct. 11 and Oct. 27 on Wednesday, however.
Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has blasted the DNC for its rule changes and stacking the primary schedule in favor of Biden. He said on Wednesday in an op-ed that the DNC does not want a "real primary" and is willing to "disenfranchise Democratic voters from choosing their nominee" to secure Biden's nomination in 2024.