The 2024 New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary was held on January 23, 2024, as a state-run contest during the Democratic Party primaries for the 2024 presidential election. The state party followed up with a formal party-run contest on April 27 to comply with DNC rules.
The January New Hampshire primary was not sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) because the DNC-approved 2024 calendar placed the South Carolina primary first in front of it, as New Hampshire state law mandated them to hold up the tradition of the first primary in the country. A "bipartisan group of state politicians", including the chairs of the Democratic and the Republican parties, announced that the state would preserve this status. Thus, the DNC initially stripped all 34 of the state's delegates that would have been allocated to the Democratic National Convention. The delegates were allowed to be seated at the convention following an additional party-run firehouse primary on April 27.
Incumbent President Joe Biden ran for a second term at the time, but declined to appear on the January ballot to comply with the DNC. His supporters nevertheless carried out a successful write-in campaign on his behalf that he did not endorse, winning over 63% of the vote. US Representative Dean Phillips, challenging Biden for the nomination, also won a significant number of votes, winning over 19% of the vote.
Controversies
Scheduling
Joe Biden sent a letter on December 1, 2022, to the "rule-making arm", the Rules and Bylaw Committee, of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), requesting that "diversity" should be emphasized in the 2024 Democratic Party presidential primaries, upending New Hampshire's tradition of being the first primary state. A December 2022 vote by the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee the following day approved the change.
On February 4, 2023, the DNC formally approved the new 2024 primary calendar, moving South Carolina to hold its race first on February 3, followed by Nevada and New Hampshire on February 6. One member of the Rules and Bylaws Committee who supported this new plan, Lee Saunders, further said it will give a better representation of the composition of the country.
Members of the New Hampshire Democratic Party opposed the move, noted that moving their primary to comply with the new calendar would require changing New Hampshire state law mandating them to hold the first primary in the country. This was unlikely to happen since the state's legislature is controlled by Republicans, who are "unwilling" to change it. Republican New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu also criticized the DNC's plan as an "absolute joke ... It's just based on a personal preference of a candidate".
The DNC originally gave New Hampshire until June to change their primary dates, then extended this deadline to September. But Politico reported that "there was little reason to expect a friendly resolution", since Republican New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan has the sole power to set the state's presidential primary date, in accordance with the aforementioned New Hampshire law. Scanlan announced the January 23 primary date on November 15, criticizing the DNC and stating that "using racial diversity as a cudgel and an attempt to rearrange the presidential nominating calendar is an ugly precedent".
The DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee affirmed on January 6, 2024, that the primary is unsanctioned and non-binding, and is therefore "meaningless". Republican New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella sent a "cease and desist" letter to the DNC in response, accusing the DNC of voter suppression. The New Hampshire Democratic Party again committed to voting in alignment with the state law mandating that its primary be held first. The state party may still send their delegation to the Democratic National Convention anyway, hoping the DNC will reverse course similar to what happened in 2008 when Florida and Michigan held their primaries earlier than the calendar allowed; after initially ruling both states would be stripped of all their delegates, it was decided to only penalize half of their delegates. DNC chair Jaime Harrison indicated on the night of the South Carolina primary that he would work towards seating the New Hampshire delegates, though the decision is ultimately in the hands of the Rules and Bylaws Committee of the DNC.
The party ran a firehouse primary before their official delegate selection meeting on April 27 to gain back their 25 delegates, in which a few dozens of registered party members from the state party committee voted and Biden was the only candidate on the ballot. The event was considered a token process to fulfill rules and largely not taken serious even by participants, but it was seen as an important decision in the context of the subsequent primary calendar for 2028. Accordingly, all delegates were allowed to be seated at the national convention following a vote by the DNC Rules and Bylaw Committee on April 30.
AI robocall
NBC News reported on January 22, 2024, that the New Hampshire attorney general's office was investigating AI-generated robocalls seemingly from President Joe Biden, which encouraged voters to skip voting on the day of the primary. Phillips was critical of the calls and called for more regulation in the AI sector. Aaron Jacobs, a spokesman for the Biden write-in campaign, indicated that the matter was referred to the police.
Paul Carpenter, a magician and hypnotist from Houston, Texas, who was visiting New Orleans at the time as a freelance AI consultant and marketing expert, reportedly provided crucial information to the government and FBI, leading to the conviction related to these robocalls. Carpenter cooperated with the Sisters of America and other authorities during the investigation, playing a key role in uncovering the responsible parties behind the AI-generated robocalls.
New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella announced on February 6, 2024, that the robocalls had been traced to Texas-based Life Corporation and Lingo Telecom, after an investigation by the Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force, the Federal Communications Commission Enforcement Bureau, and other state and federal agencies. Steve Kramer, a Democratic operative, was identified as the individual behind the calls and was subsequently indicted. The FCC finalized a $6 million fine against Kramer for using deepfake AI technology and caller ID spoofing to impersonate President Biden. Kramer, who had been working as a consultant for the presidential campaign of Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., has 30 days to pay the fine or face further legal action from the Department of Justice. In mid-March, the League of Women Voters and several New Hampshire voters filed a lawsuit against Kramer, Lingo Telecom, and Life Corporation.
On June 5, 2025, Kramer went on trial in Belknap County Superior Court, where jurors were asked to consider not only his guilt or innocence for 11 felony charges of voter suppression and impersonating a candidate but also whether the state had actually held its first-in-the-nation presidential primary. On June 13, 2025, Kramer was acquitted on all counts of voter suppression and impersonating a candidate. Officials also said that the $6 million civil penalty imposed by the Federal Communications Commission after the robocalls were sent still stands, despite the verdict.
Candidates
Official candidates on the ballot
The following candidates officially filed by the end of the filing deadline on October 27, 2023. In order to be listed on the ballot, candidates paid a $1,000 filing fee.
- "President" R. Boddie
- Terrisa Bukovinac
- Eban Cambridge
- Gabriel Cornejo
- Mark Stewart Greenstein
- Tom Koos
- Paul V. LaCava
- Star Locke
- Frankie Lozada
- Stephen P. Lyons
- Raymond Michael Moroz
- Derek Nadeau
- Jason Palmer
- Armando "Mando" Perez-Serrato
- Dean Phillips
- Donald Picard
- Paperboy Prince
- Richard Rist
- Vermin Supreme
- John Vail
- Marianne Williamson
Write-in campaigns
In addition to the candidates who made the ballot, several candidates ran write-in campaigns.
Incumbent President Joe Biden announced his bid for a second term on April 25, 2023. However, Biden's team indicated that he would not appear on the New Hampshire primary ballot if the state defied the DNC's calendar and scheduled its race before South Carolina's. In October 2023, the manager for the Biden campaign, Julie Chávez Rodriguez, confirmed in a letter to the chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party Raymond Buckley that Biden would not appear on the primary ballot in order to comply with the DNC's calendar. Pro-Biden New Hampshire Democrats, including Kathy Sullivan (the former chairwoman of the state Democratic party) and former Representatives Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter, launched a formal write-in campaign on October 30, concluding that it would only hurt the Biden campaign if he lost the state's unsanctioned primary by default.
In January 2024, voters promoting a ceasefire in the Gaza war launched a write-in campaign for "ceasefire". New Hampshire secretary of state David Scanlan has indicated that these "ceasefire" votes were tallied. Ultimately, "Ceasefire" received 1,497 votes, or 1.28%.
Cenk Uygur, who filed for the ballot but was disqualified due to not being a natural-born citizen, told supporters to write him in in an X post the day of the primary.
Despite not running in or campaigning in this primary, independent politicians Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Bernie Sanders each received notable numbers of write-in votes. Additionally, several candidates running in the concurrently held Republican primaries received sizable numbers of write-ins in the Democratic primary. Nikki Haley received 4,695 write-in votes. Donald Trump received 2,055 write-in votes. In previous New Hampshire primaries, candidates of the opposite have received write-in votes from voters who missed the deadline to change their registration.
Endorsements
Joe Biden (write-in)
U.S. Senators
- Maggie Hassan, U.S. Senator from New Hampshire (2017–present), 81st Governor of New Hampshire (2013–2017)
- Jeanne Shaheen, U.S. Senator from New Hampshire (2009–present), 78th Governor of New Hampshire (1997–2003)
U.S. Representatives
- Annie Kuster, U.S. Representative from NH-02 (2013–present)
- Paul Hodes, U.S. Representative from NH-02 (2007–2011)
- Carol Shea-Porter, U.S. Representative from NH-01 (2007–2011, 2013–2015, 2017–2019)
State executive officials
- Cinde Warmington, member of the New Hampshire Executive Council (2021–present), candidate for governor in 2024
- Dudley Dudley, member of the New Hampshire Executive Council (1976–1983), political activist
- Colin Van Ostern, member of the New Hampshire Executive Council (2013–2017), businessman
State legislators