A write-in campaign for President Joe Biden won the New Hampshire Democratic primary Tuesday, after the state was stripped of its delegates by the Democratic National Committee.
Voters who wrote in Biden’s name beat out Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) and self-help author Marianne Williamson, according to three news networks, with early counts of unprocessed write-in ballots outnumbering votes for Phillips by a more-than-three-to-one margin.
Biden bypassed the New Hampshire primary, after the DNC reshuffled the presidential nominating calendar and elevated South Carolina to the first-place spot. Biden, who backed the new lineup, did not appear on the ballot in New Hampshire, nor did he campaign in the state.
The New Hampshire results indicate that Biden is barreling toward a rematch with former President Donald Trump in the general election.
“Tonight’s results confirm Donald Trump has all but locked up the GOP nomination,” said Biden-Harris 2024 Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez in a statement, which did not mention the Democratic primary results. “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.”
Pro-Biden efforts elevated the president through a write-in campaign, spending more than six-figures on digital ads and mailers to educate voters on how to back the president.
Phillips launched his bid in October, arguing that while he respected Biden, the president was at serious risk of losing to former President Donald Trump. As the campaign went on, Phillips became more critical of Biden and the Democratic Party, saying that the president was a threat to democracy because he didn’t speak out against some state parties keeping the congressman off the ballot.
Phillips, who said recently that he put $5 million of his own funds into the race, deployed an unusual strategy in New Hampshire of attacking Biden from both the left and the right. He signed onto a “Medicare for All bill” and criticized Biden for not embracing marijuana legalization. At the same time, he knocked Biden on issues such as border security. Phillips also took a reference to “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” efforts off his website after a major financial supporter publicly criticized him over it.
Phillips ran television ads in New Hampshire touting his support of universal health care and bashing Biden for shunning the state’s primary. Spots by the pro-Phillips super PAC, We Deserve Better, attacked Biden’s electability and accused the Democratic National Committee of rigging the primary. The group spent a $1.9 million as of earlier this week.