If Dems Hold A Primary In N.H., And Biden's Not On Ballots, What Could Happen?

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Daily News, News, Politics

4.4 • 25.7K Ratings

🗓️ 12 July 2023

⏱️ 14 minutes

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Summary

The incumbent president may not appear on New Hampshire's Democratic primary ballots this winter. After the party moved its first 2024 nominating contest to South Carolina, the state said it would still hold its primary beforehand regardless. This, in turn, sets up a possible scenario where if Biden refuses to campaign in the state, and leaves his name off the ballot — it allows a fringe candidate like anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to win.

This episode: political reporter Deepa Shivaram, national political correspondent Mara Liasson, and New Hampshire Public Radio senior political reporter and editor Josh Rogers.

The podcast is produced by Elena Moore and Casey Morell. Our editor is Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Martha from Austin, Texas. I am currently in Nelson, British Columbia,
0:05.7	where I have just finished watching my nine-year-old, gymnastic nieces end-of-year show at Glacier
0:12.0	Gymnastics. She and all the girls were so great. This podcast was recorded at...
0:18.4	1121 AM on Wednesday, July 12, 2023.
0:22.9	Things may have changed by the time you hear this. Enjoy the show.
0:30.0	Congratulations.
0:31.2	Oh, Austin, great spot for tacos. Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Deepa Shiverum.
0:36.9	I cover the White House. And I'm Mara Lias and National Political Correspondent.
0:41.2	And today we're joined by Josh Rogers of New Hampshire Public Radio. Hey Josh.
0:45.6	Hello. So, 2024 presidential candidates are ramping up their campaigning in New Hampshire,
0:51.3	which has long been the first presidential primary in the country. Hashtag first of the nation.
0:55.9	We all know this. But things are a little bit wonky this year. New Hampshire Democrats are holding
1:00.4	an unsanctioned primary. Josh, what is an unsanctioned primary? What's going on here?
1:05.3	Well, as you know, the DNC with the backing of President Biden decided to rejigger the primary
1:11.1	schedule, having South Carolina vote first. New Hampshire has a state law, however, which says,
1:16.8	essentially, it must go first seven days before any similar contest. That would traditionally
1:22.6	mean Iowa could go first since it's a caucus election officials here and leaders in both
1:27.1	political parties said New Hampshire will be going first. And New Hampshire primary has always been
1:32.3	dependent on who chooses to show up and whether President Biden chooses to put his name on the
1:36.9	ballot here is something that has Democrats agitated because like right now it doesn't seem
1:41.6	like he probably will. Does that mean no delegates get awarded to whoever wins by the Democrats?
1:47.2	It could mean that, you know, New Hampshire has been subject to such threats before and it hasn't
	...

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