Analysis: Bad News Biden Brings Headaches To New Hampshire Democrats

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

How much political trouble is President Joe Biden in? So much so that he came to New Hampshire.

And unfortunately for local Democrats, he brought more trouble with him.

Given New Hampshire’s record as a solid Democratic state in federal elections—only one GOP win for POTUS since 1988, for example—a Democrat who feels the need to campaign in the Granite State is like a PGA pro who wants a practice round before a game of mini golf.

This is supposed to be easy.

Instead, Biden brought his “lowest approval rating of any modern president” to Manchester on Monday. Why?

Ask Biden, says longtime Granite State political player Greg Moore of Americans for Prosperity.

“It’s not what I think, it’s what Joe Biden thinks. Why is Joe Biden coming to New Hampshire as one of his priority states, along with states like North Carolina and Georgia? Why is Joe Biden adding New Hampshire to his media buys? Why is Joe Biden acting like he’s in trouble in New Hampshire? It’s a great question for him.”

And even if he is in trouble, there’s another question: How did this trip help?

His visit gave Republicans the opportunity to remind voters that he stayed away during the entire First in the Nation presidential primary — a primary Biden personally tried to kill.

“Joe Biden has been deliberately ignoring New Hampshire for almost two years, refused to participate in our First in the Nation primary, and the (New Hampshire Democrats) rewarded him with a write-in victory anyway,” the New Hampshire GOP said in a social media post. “We deserve a president who values New Hampshire. Not one that despises us.”

Former state Senate President Chuck Morse (R-Salem), a candidate for governor, said in a statement that Biden “hid in his basement” from New Hampshire voters who were “seeking answers” during the state’s first-in-the-nation primary.

“President Biden has abandoned the Granite State, plunging us into a crisis at the border, fueling inflation, and undermining our economy,” Morse said.

One theory is that Biden was in New Hampshire to “make peace” with local Democrats, as Politico put it. And their intrepid reporter Lisa Kashinsky says Team Biden expects the DNC to seat all of New Hampshire’s convention delegates, despite rules saying the state should lose half for holding an unsanctioned primary.

But that’s hardly a surprise. And as far as “making peace,” why would Biden need to do that with a New Hampshire Democratic Party that’s already offered an unconditional surrender?

Other than allowing Biden to use Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley as a footstool while the federal delegation files his nails and feeds him grapes, how much more obsequious and servile could Granite State Democrats be?

So again, why make this trip? Where was the upside? It’s hard to tell.

But the downside for Democrats is hard to miss. Just ask Joyce Craig and Cinde Warmington.

Everywhere Biden goes, three issues follow him: immigration, inflation, and Israel. And all three are awful for the Democrats running for governor.

Biden managed to escape the Israel issue by keeping the locations of his events secret until the last minute, avoiding the cries of “Genocide Joe” that have become features of his public appearances.

Not so with inflation, which was the centerpiece of his visit. (It didn’t go well.)

But the killer for Craig and Warmington is immigration.

“With Joe Biden campaigning in New Hampshire today, it’s a timely reminder of Joyce Craig and Cinde Warmington’s latest silence when it comes to sanctuary cities,” a Republican Governors Association spokesperson said. “For weeks, Craig and Warmington have repeatedly dodged questions on their views on the sanctuary city policies they have previously supported as Biden continues to attempt (and fails) to backtrack on his dangerous open border agenda.

“With Craig and Warmington’s continued silence, Granite Staters should expect that Craig and Warmington’s embrace of sanctuary cities hasn’t changed a bit.”

The obvious question for the two Democrats is whether they support Biden’s immigration policy. The obvious follow up is their stance on the sanctuary city ban currently being debated in the State House.

Both are questions Craig and Warmington have no desire to answer but which Biden made harder to avoid.

Republican candidate for governor Kelly Ayotte fired her shot on social media.

“Sanctuary Craig (and) Cinde Warmington would make Massachusetts’ illegal immigrant crisis New Hampshire’s illegal immigrant crisis,” she posted. “As governor, I won’t let that happen.”

If the temperature around the immigration topic wasn’t high enough, Biden cranked it up to 11 when his campaign got into a fight with reporters over Biden’s use of the word “illegal” to describe the alleged killer of Laken Riley.

On Sunday, Biden said he regretted calling the killer “an illegal,” adding that he would treat illegal immigrants “with respect…they built this country.”

On Monday, a spokesperson adamantly denied Biden said what he clearly said. “There was no apology anywhere in that conversation,” the White House’s Olivia Dalton told reporters on Air Force One. “He did not apologize. He used a different word. I think what we should be really clear about is the facts.”

NHJournal asked both the Warmington and Craig campaigns if they believed Biden owed the suspect in the Laken Riley murder an apology for describing him as “an illegal” and if they agreed with the president that illegal immigrants “built this country.”

The two Democrats declined to answer the questions.

Thanks to Biden’s visit, they’re going to have to keep not answering for at least a few more media cycles.

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.