On Politics

Wed Jan 24 2024

Marina Pitofsky | Associate Editor/Politics

Hi there OnPolitics readers! Poll after poll shows Americans don't really want a 2020 rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

But that didn't stop both Biden and Trump from winning the New Hampshire primary. The USA TODAY Network's Margie Cullen is here to explain how Biden defeated his Democratic challengers without even technically being on the ballot.

↩️Wait, did Biden skip the New Hampshire primary? Sort of. He wasn't on the ballot because of a dispute between the Democratic National Committee and New Hampshire state officials. But local party leaders and other groups spent months organizing a write-in campaign to support Biden in the Granite State, which was quickly successful Tuesday night.

🥊Democrats still challenged Biden in NH: Author Marianne Williamson and Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips were the most well-known of the 21 names on the Democratic ballot. Others included Brooklyn's Paperboy Joy Prince, a non-binary activist who centered their campaign around love, and Vermin Supreme, a performer who wears a large black boot on his head.

But on primary night, there were no surprises, and the election was soon called for Biden after the polls closed. Experts say that's because there is no unified challenger mounting a bid against the president.

"There's no clear alternative to Biden right now," said Andrew Smith, the Director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. "You can't beat somebody with nobody."