Of course New Hampshire will have its first-in-the-nation presidential primary next year: state law requires it. The Republican Party hasn’t changed its calendar, and Gov. Sununu wants the national exposure. The only question is what the Democratic Party and candidates will do about it. Reducing convention delegates by half or even to zero will have little effect as candidates come to NH for the exposure not the paltry number of delegates available. If President Biden is still running for reelection next year, the Democratic primary is irrelevant anyway.
A more interesting scenario is if the Democratic Party disowns the official primary and holds its own on its selected date; that will give them a chance to show what they consider an ideal election format. Will they mail ballots to all registered Democrats or even to undeclared voters as well? Will there be physical voting booths or just drop boxes and mail-ins? How will they handle new voters not on the checklist? And if they manage to keep serious candidates from running in the state official Democratic primary, will Vermin Supreme be the winner? President Biden wants to make South Carolina first due to his good showing there, but he is probably lucky it wasn’t first in 2020. Cory Booker, Deval Patrick, and Kamala Harris might have still been in the race and attracted much of the Black vote that Biden got, making him a lower finisher and probable dropout, and we might have President Sanders or Buttigieg instead.
Roy Schweiker
Concord