Democrats restore New Hampshire’s convention delegates after party-run nominating event
Voters cast their ballots in the New Hampshire Primary at Pinkerton Academy on January 23 in Derry
(CNN) — New Hampshire Democrats will send a full delegation to this summer’s Democratic National Convention after the national party’s rules committee voted Tuesday to approve a nominating event the state party held Saturday.
The New Hampshire Democrats have not released formal results from the event, but the state will get 25 pledged delegates, as well nine automatic delegates (also known as superdelegates), according to a plan the committee approved Tuesday.
The vote resolves a conflict between the state and national parties over the timing of the New Hampshire primary.
“We, as a committee and as a national committee, have gone through a difficult number of weeks and months getting to this point and I know that New Hampshire has gone through a difficult number of weeks and months, where some things we’d liked to have seen take place did not,” rules co-chair Jim Roosevelt said during Tuesday’s meeting. “As it happens, all that is behind us now. We have worked out compliance with our rules and with the charter.”
Democrats changed their 2024 nominating calendar to prioritize more diverse states among the early contests. Under the plan, South Carolina replaced New Hampshire as the party’s first presidential primary. But Granite State law requires its primary to be held first.
New Hampshire Democrats refused to comply with the new schedule and chose to participate in the state-run contest in January, before any other primary.
Because the election was not sanctioned by the DNC, the results didn’t count toward allocating convention delegates and President Joe Biden didn’t campaign in the state (although he won the primary as a write-in candidate).
Both of Biden’s highest-profile Democratic challengers, Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips and author Marianne Williamson, chose to participate in the state-run primary. Campaigning in the unsanctioned contest was a violation of DNC rules, and so both were deemed ineligible for the weekend’s party-run process and could not win pledged delegates from New Hampshire.
Three months later, with Biden’s nomination assured, Tuesday’s move allows the national party to hold the line on not recognizing the noncompliant New Hampshire state-run primary, while still allowing delegates from the Granite State to attend the convention.
“I know that we have had some challenging moments,” Joanne Dowdell, a member of the committee from New Hampshire, said. “But we are now focused squarely on the November election and reelecting President Biden and Vice President Harris.”
This story has been updated with additional details.
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