President Joe Biden won Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary despite not being on the ballot.
The Associated Press called Biden’s win moments after polls closed in the state at 8 p.m.
Democrats in the Granite State launched a write-in campaign to propel the president to victory after the Democratic National Committee, with Biden’s blessing, reordered this year’s Democratic primaries.
South Carolina is holding the first official Democratic primary on February 3. But New Hamsphire law and the state’s Republican-led government wouldn’t allow the first-in-the-nation primary date to be moved, forcing Democrats to go to the polls Tuesday.
They could choose to write-in Biden or pick one of his rivals, Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips or self-help guru Marianne Williamson.
With about 50 percent of the votes reporting, Biden appeared to receive about 61 percent of the vote to Phillips’ 21 percent and Williamson’s 4.4 percent.
President Joe Biden spent Tuesday not in New Hampshire, but at a campaign event in Manassas, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Still, a write-in campaign in the Granite State was successful elevating Biden over Rep. Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson
Volunteers Latha Mangipudi (left) and Dante Castellano (right) hold signs up outside a polling place Tuesday in Nashua, New Hampshire encouraging Democrats voting in the primary to write-in President Joe Biden’s name
In a statement from his campaign, Biden thanked supporters for writing his name in and said the Republican result – a Trump win – meant that the ex-president ‘will be the Republican nominee.’
‘And my message to the country is the stakes could not be higher. Our Democracy. Our personal freedoms – from the right to choose to the right to vote. Our economy – which has seen the strongest recovery in the world since COVID. All are at stake,’ Biden said.
The president headlined a campaign event in northern Virginia on Tuesday instead of making a trip to the Granite State.
At a watch-party at the Millyard Museum in Manchester, Phillips vowed to keep his challenge against Biden going.
Phillips launched his quixotic bid in October after spending months warning his fellow Democrats that 81-year-old Biden would lose in a general election rematch against Trump.
The 54-year-old father-of-two from Minnesota is one of the richest members of Congress, formerly serving as the president and CEO of his family’s liquor company and later Talenti gelato.
He noted to supporters that his bid was only 10 weeks old.
Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips held an election night party at the Millyard Museum in downtown Manchester, New Hampshire, telling supporters he would continue on with his challenge against President Joe Biden after garnering 21 percent of the vote
‘And we just won 20 percent tonight and nobody knew who we were 10 weeks ago,’ the Minnesota congresman said. ‘So I’ve gotta say man if we had 20 weeks watch the heck out.’
Phillips said he would take his campaign to South Carolina for the state’s February 3 Democratic primary and then onto Michigan, which holds a primary later in the month.
‘Joe Biden is a good man. He is a fine man. Yes, he is everybody, he’s our president. But I’ve gotta tell you, everyone, he cannot win,’ Phillips said. ‘The polls are saying he cannot win, his approval numbers are saying he can’t win.’
Additionally, Phillips pointed out, ‘an unknown congressman from Minnesota’ was just able to get 21 percent. ‘So I’m here to say are you ready to keep this baby going?’ he asked the crowd to cheers.
Williamson announced in March that she would again seek the presidency after running against Biden and other Democrats in the 2020 race.
‘I am not naïve about the forces which have no intention to let anyone into this conversation who does not align with their predetermined agenda,’ she said at the time.
Late Tuesday night, Williamson’s campaign manager tweeted that he was stepping down, leaving the future of her campaign in flux.
Phillips, who’s served in Congress since 2017, quickly leapfrogged Williamson in Granite State polling, though the final survey from Emerson showed him trailing Biden by 45 points.
At a polling place in Nashua, New Hampshire Tuesday, Phillips called the million dollar write-in campaign ‘obnoxious.’
‘I think it’s the hypocrisy of democracy, either you get on the ballot – I mean he’s the president of the United States of America. What does it say to the country? What does it say to the world? When you choose – choose – to not have your name on the ballot in the first-in-the-nation primary that has done this for 103 years,’ Phillips said.
Self-help guru Marianne Williamson campaigns Wednesday, January 17 in Concord, New Hampshire ahead of Tuesday’s Granite State primary. Williamson also ran for president in 2020 but eventually endorsed President Joe Biden
Rep. Dean Phillips gives a fist bump to a supporter during a stop Tuesday at a polling place in Londonderry, New Hampshire. Phillips launched his presidential bid in October after warning for months that 81-year-old Biden would lose to former President Donald Trump
‘I think it’s appalling,’ he added.
Democrats DailyMail.com interviewed Tuesday at a polling place near downtown Manchester had mixed feelings about losing their historic first primary status.
‘I was disappointed,’ said 70-year-old Bill Cullity, who’s retired, but works part-time at a liquor store. ‘I understand or understood, I think, his rationale, based on the last time he was here. But I would, I would say yes, I’m disappointed that he didn’t make an appearance.’
The president came in fifth place during the 2020 New Hampshire Democratic primary, righting his campaign by coming in second place in the Nevada caucuses and then dominating in the South Carolina primary.
Still, Cullity wrote in Biden’s name.
‘I think he’s done a reasonable job, I think he’s an honorable man. I think he brings a certain level of calmness from this point on in the country right now and there was no chance I would vote for Trump even if the Pope was his running mate.’
Son Faris, a 44-year-old truck driver from Manchester, said he voted for Phillips because the Democrat supports ‘Medicare-for-all.’
‘We need healthcare for everybody,’ he told DailyMail.com pointing to the state’s notoriously bad drug problem.
Faris said he is a progressive and former supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders and has never voted for Biden.
‘I didn’t vote for him last time, I’m not going to vote for him again. I would never vote for him – give me a choice, dying, [or] vote for Biden, it would be a hard decision to make,’ he said. ‘He sucks. He’s no good.’