While most eyes are on the history-making happening in the Republican New Hampshire primary, the Democrats’ unofficial and largely symbolic presidential primary is history-making in a different way. For the first time in over 100 years and 26 successive Democrat primaries, New Hampshire has lost its “first-in-the-nation” status – no longer being the first state to officially cast its votes for the Democrats’ presidential nomination.
It comes after a controversial 2023 decision by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to alter the party’s primary election calendar to give South Carolina – who they say is more demographically representative of the American population – premiere primary position on 3 February 2024.
Protesting the DNC’s decision to move its primary to second place alongside Nevada, and in order to uphold its “first-in-the-nation” 1920 state law, Democratic New Hampshire officials went ahead with today’s primary. But by refusing to comply with the official DNC calendar, New Hampshire was penalised, and forfeited its ability to send official delegates to the Democratic National Convention in August. All this means, in the end, the results of today’s Democratic primary in New Hampshire are largely meaningless in terms of the officially determining who will represent the Democrats as presidential nominee in 2024.