U.S. President Joe Biden clinched a resounding write-in win in New Hampshire’s primary election on Tuesday, beating two Democrats who were on the ballot.
Despite not being on the ballot, U.S. President Joe Biden secured a remarkable Democratic write-in victory in New Hampshire’s primary election on Tuesday, showing his political clout. He defeated two Democrats who were on the ballot – self-help author Marianne Williamson and U.S. Representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota.
The win for the sitting president was the result of a passionate write-in effort led by New Hampshire Democrats, who were unhappy with the national party’s choice to move the state’s first-in-the-nation primary election to more diverse South Carolina.
“I want to thank all those who wrote my name in this evening in New Hampshire. It was a historic demonstration of commitment to our democratic process,” Biden said in a statement.
At a watch party by organizers of the write-in effort, some in the audience booed when the speakers mentioned that the Democratic National Committee had ended New Hampshire’s proud tradition of vetting Democratic candidates.
But the crowd cheered when it seemed Biden was doing well.
Matt Wilhelm, a Democratic state representative, said the write-in effort was “certainly unconventional,” but effective.
“Together we sent a clear message that we are going to fight for our democracy, we are going to fight for our fundamental freedoms and we are going to fight to re-elect Joe Biden in November,” he said.
Biden had about 68% of the vote with 40% of the write-in counted, while Phillips had about 20%.
The 55-year Democrat had said in the days before Election Day that he would continue his campaign. He has claimed that Biden is weak and unelectable and prone to lose to the probable Republican nominee, Donald Trump.
At the Phillips watch party in Manchester, Phillips congratulated Biden but said he won “by no means in a way that a strong incumbent president should.”
He also congratulated Trump for winning the Republican vote.
A statement from the Biden campaign did not refer to the write-in but focused on the general election fight.
“While we work toward November 2024, one thing is increasingly clear today: Donald Trump is headed straight into a general election matchup where he’ll face the only person to have ever beaten him at the ballot box: Joe Biden,” the statement said.
Biden had backed the move by national Democrats to move their first primary election to South Carolina.
His rivals will likely question whether his victory was strong enough.
A CNN/University of New Hampshire poll released on Sunday showed Biden getting 63% of the primary vote in that state, with Phillips at 10%.
Democratic supporters had tried to lower expectations. They cited the 39% support that Senator Lisa Murkowski got during a write-in election in 2010 as an indication of what Biden might achieve.
With Trump’s nomination almost certain, Biden’s campaign announced two of the president’s top advisers, Mike Donilon and Jen O’Malley Dillon, will leave the White House for his reelection campaign next month. The move came after some Democrats said his campaign needed a boost.
