Graham: After DNC Snub, New Hampshire Democrats Bend The Knee While GOP Prepares For War

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

What happens when you bend over in front of a bully and say, “Thank you, sir! May I have another?”

You get another.

Just ask Ray Buckley and the state’s all-Democratic federal delegation. Not only did they get spanked by the DNC on Friday, but they have yet to let go of their ankles.

Four years ago, the state’s Democratic leaders in the federal delegation and state party responded to the Democratic National Committee stripping the party of its historic FITN presidential primary status not with a raised fist, but with a helping hand. Rather than using their political clout to protect the primary, they partnered with President Joe Biden to fund and organize a write-in campaign to give him a win in a primary he personally removed from the calendar.

At the time, many voices warned that the appeasement strategy was almost certain to fail.

“By allowing the primary to be taken without a fight, New Hampshire Democrats will face the daunting task of trying to get this same DNC to return their FITN status in 2028. How do they even do that?” one publication asked. “It will just be another state lobbying for its place in line.”

For the past two years, Granite State Democrats have done nothing to push back, not even token press events or organized campaign efforts targeting the DNC. That was bad.

But their reaction to the DNC’s vote may have been even worse.

As Republican strategist Matthew Bartlett noted on social media, the joint statement from the state’s federal delegation doesn’t mention New Hampshire holding the first 2028 primary. It simply says, “Regardless of today’s vote, Granite Staters remain committed to the hard work of organizing and electing candidates who stand up for our Live Free or Die values.”

The same goes for state party chair Buckley. There was no mention of 2028, merely a commitment to work hard in 2026 and a passing mention of the “realities governing New Hampshire’s primaries” — aka the state law mandating that the state go first — but no commitment to defend the primary.

Compare that with Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s reaction to the DNC: “I fully support Secretary Scanlan upholding state law that puts our primary first. We will not back down from defending New Hampshire’s place in history, and I look forward to hosting the first primaries for both parties in 2028.”

Why is the Democrats’ silence significant? After all, Secretary of State Dave Scanlan and state law are going to ensure New Hampshire’s place at the front of the calendar.

Because, according to the news site NOTUS, there is a proposal circulating among DNC members that would have the New Hampshire Democratic Party finance and conduct a separate, party-run primary on Feb. 8, distinct from the official state primary.

The result could be two Democratic contests: an official, state-funded FITN primary in January that the DNC refuses to recognize, followed by a party-financed February primary used to award convention delegates.

In fact, Buckley already engineered a limited version of that process in 2024. After the state held its official Jan. 23 primary, he staged a nearly secret “party-run delegate selection primary” in April. Some attendees said at the time that they didn’t realize it was a formal vote-tallying event.

If Granite State Democrats are preparing to accept their fate rather than fight back, their GOP counterparts are taking a different approach. They’re preparing for war.

New Hampshire House Deputy Majority Leader Joe Sweeney (R-Salem) is floating the idea of keeping the Democratic presidential nominee off the November ballot if the primary isn’t honored.

“The DNC would be well within their rights to decertify any delegates elected via the First-in-the-Nation New Hampshire primary on Jan. 11, 2028,” Sweeney said. “They are a private organization and can adopt any rules they’d like to manage their party nomination process.

“New Hampshire would also be within our rights to adopt a new state law that bars from the general election ballot the presidential nominees of any party that does not recognize and promote our FITN primary.”

Another idea some Republicans are circulating is to treat any political party that rejects the legitimacy of the New Hampshire primary as a third party. There would be no automatic ballot access, forcing every candidate to gather signatures the way Libertarian and independent candidates do.

Both parties have attempted to strip New Hampshire of its place on the calendar in the past, with threats not to seat delegates and the like. Every time, the Granite State has gone first, and the national party has backed down.

This time, DNC Chair Ken Martin says, it’s going to be different.

“We laid the marker down. This is a calendar this party is actually going to protect. And unlike the past, it’s not going to be a wink and a nod, ‘We’ll let you do what you want, and you can get away with it.’

“If they decided to do that, they know what the consequences are, and we’ve been very clear.”

Those consequences include stripping a noncompliant state of its entire convention delegation, including automatic delegates, and imposing a $270,000 fine on the state party.

The new rules also target candidates who participate in an unsanctioned primary. A candidate who campaigns in New Hampshire could be barred from DNC-sponsored debates and prohibited from earning delegates in any of the six early-window states.

Candidates would also be required to denounce independent efforts conducted on their behalf.

“If the DNC wants to play hardball with New Hampshire, New Hampshire can — and should — play hardball with the DNC,” Sweeney said.

One Democrat who may be getting the message: U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas. After social media buzz about the milquetoast response from the delegation, Pappas released another statement.

“Let me be clear: New Hampshire is the First-in-the-Nation state, and we will go first — no matter what the party insiders say.”

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.