Biden's NH (Write-in) Landslide
How the grassroots came through for Joe
By Brent Whelan
Primaries in New Hampshire, land of “Live Free or Die”, have always been prone to surprises, and 2024 was no exception. Not for Republicans, whose former president showed up to collect his trophy, but on the Democratic ballot where, among twenty-one names, President Biden was not included.
An incumbent not on the ballot? Here’s how that happened.
Democratic National Committee (DNC) and New Hampshire Democratic party officials disagreed over which state would hold the nation’s first primary. New Hampshire planned to go first, as usual, but the DNC wanted South Carolina as the kickoff. President Biden agreed to sidestep the quarrel by keeping his name off the NH ballot.
But the tactic posed a problem: With Biden off ballot, it could appear that he lost. And it wasn’t hard to imagine the media turning such a “loss” against him. The solution?
Biden supporters in New Hampshire and surrounding states organized a Granite State Write-in Campaign encouraging primary voters to write in Biden, thus showing support for the president and New Hampshire itself.
“The New Hampshire primary was happening and there was no way we were going to pretend it wasn’t or tell people to stay home,” said Colin Van Ostern, co-leader of the write-in campaign. “Each of those approaches just felt so fundamentally wrong.”
Once the write-in campaign began, logistical headaches followed, starting with timing. With just a few months to work, grassroots support was critical. Weekly Zoom calls among a handful of activists doled out assignments. Fundraising. A website. Sample Ballots. Voting instructions. Soon, some 200 people statewide were on those weekly Zooms, all offering ideas.
“There’s no monopoly on good ideas,” said campaign organizer and former NH Speaker of the House Terie Norelli. “So many people had good ideas and all we needed to do was to encourage them.”
Among the ideas from the grassroots were: sample ballots printed and posted at all 303 polling sites; sample voting cards with Biden’s name; a QR code providing instant access to the campaign website; and speakers fanning out statewide to drum up support. The campaign also raised $70,000 for operations.
As the January 23rd primary approached, strategists at Swing Blue Alliance added their support. Swing Blue designed a postcard with instructions for obtaining a write-in ballot at the polls and how to write in “JOE BIDEN.” In the campaign’s final weeks, Swing Blue volunteers mailed 27,000 postcards to New Hampshire Democrats.
When primary ballots were counted, Biden collected 79,455 write-ins, 64 percent of Democratic votes cast – a landslide! Biden’s total was greater than either Barack Obama’s or Bill Clinton’s numbers in reelection campaigns when their names were on the ballot.
With the grassroots behind him, Biden scored a major victory and gained a burst of momentum at the outset of his national campaign. Biden himself gave the best testimonial, calling the write-in effort “a historic demonstration of commitment to the democratic process.”
New Hampshire Democrats also won big. “People who follow politics knew that the DNC wasn’t recognizing New Hampshire’s primary, which is in our laws and run by our Secretary of State,” Novelli said. “That gave us a little bit of passion, like ‘We’ll show YOU why New Hampshire has the first primary! It’s because we do things.’”
And don’t forget, Novelli added, what a big win this was for grassroots teamwork. "That's what grassroots is,” she said, “empowering people to do what they want to do, what they are good at doing, what they are creative about doing, That's why it worked and the outcome was so great."
Brent Whelan is a retired teacher, a climate activist, and writer of postcards to swing state voters. He lives in Allston, MA.
Read more of “what works” in The Grassroots Connector
We also ran phone banks :)
It's pretty amazing, but not unsurprising, how the mainstream media is purposely missing the story of Biden's strength in each primary. This particularly stood out to me: votes for Biden in NH surpasses both Obama and Clinton when they were on the ballot! I never saw that anywhere but your post!
The media's narrative is a reminder that the "liberal media bias" is a myth, and that narrative isn't going to change. Fine. I feel like the more they mislead folks, the more word and analysis gets out that the polling is wrong, that's more motivation for the grassroots - I know it's motivating me more and more to do more! It's also motivating me to not listen to or engage with doom-spraying, hair-on-fire Dems and faux-gressives. And that's better for my mental health.