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.
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.
