For decades, one state has had the privilege of going first in the presidential primary process. But New Hampshire’s “stranglehold” on the way we pick presidents could be losing its grip. The Democratic Party changed its presidential nominating calendar to give voters of color more sway. But New Hampshire isn’t backing down, setting up a major test of the stranglehold and its power.
Today, we present that story from our colleagues in NHPR's newsroom, from the podcast "Stranglehold"
Transcript
Hannah McCarthy: I'm Hannah McCarthy.
Nick Capodice: I'm Nick Capodice.
Hannah McCarthy: And this is Civics 101.
Nick Capodice: Today we are bringing you something a little bit different from our normal fare.
Hannah McCarthy: A couple of years ago, our colleagues in New Hampshire Public Radio's newsroom made a podcast called Stranglehold. It looked at why it is that New Hampshire has held the first presidential primary for decades, how it has kept, yes, a stranglehold on this critical role in picking presidents. Despite being a tiny state that many argue is not representative of a rapidly changing country.
Nick Capodice: Now, this podcast made a lot of waves, not just here in New Hampshire, but across the country. And it got a lot of pushback, especially from some of the people who had an interest in keeping the first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire. Political insiders, media types. Even the former New Hampshire secretary of state, Bill Gardner, the so-called guardian of the primary.
Vox: Public Radio has a link to that, saying to watch a show. But they have all these this misinformation, untruth, and they linked it to your show yesterday. I've heard about the I've heard about I've heard about this program Stranglehold. Well, will be there's so much stuff that it's just totally untrue made up not factual like what.
Hannah McCarthy: You can hear that whole story if you check out Stranglehold's first season wherever you get your podcasts. It's also a fascinating look inside campaigning for president, among other things. So we really think you'll like it.
Nick Capodice: It is truly in the Civics 101 wheelhouse. So today we're going to bring you an update on that story from Jack RODOLICO, one of the hosts of Stranglehold. If you have been following the news, you may have heard that New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation status is truly in peril.
Hannah McCarthy: So here it is. We're happy to present Stranglehold's latest chapter. It's called Make Room. We'll let Jack take it from here.
Nick Capodice: And a quick note to any educators out there. There are a couple of bleeped swear words in this episode. Enjoy.
Vox: Previously on Stranglehold.
Jack Rodolico: Does it affect your life at all that you are in New Hampshire and you get to vote before other people? Would it affect you if the primary went away from New Hampshire? Like, do you think.
Vox: About it affect me at all? I'll tell you that it's I do what I want to do. And that's the whole thing about it. New Hampshire. I live free or die, right? Our hearts beat to the words of the New Hampshire state motto, Live free or Die. It's a story of inclusiveness.
Vox: Basically, it came down to this. This is where New Hampshire.
Vox: The American dream, that any one son or daughter could grow up to be president.
Vox: I will pledge to the death to protect the New Hampshire primary, so help me God. It's a reality we've got to change.
Vox: I mean, it just seems like nobody has a true answer. Why New Hampshire is still first in the nation. You guys are just not diverse enough to represent America as a whole. The most important.
Vox: Thing that we can do is to save the New Hampshire primary, because without the primary, what is New Hampshire?
Jack Rodolico: What do you think it would be like if we didn't have the primary here?
Joe Biden: I think we'll be forgotten. It's an honor to be able to come to New Hampshire again.
Josh Rogers: Joe loves you. Joe loves the first in the nation primary. You know, meanwhile, when it doesn't look like it's going to go his way, he's on a plane to South Carolina.
Joe Biden: You have no idea how great it is to be back in South Carolina.
Jack Rodolico: We haven't released an episode of Stranglehold for three years. Back then we figured we'd said just about all there was to say about New Hampshire's lock on the presidential nominating calendar. If we ever come back, we figured it'd be because there's something worth saying.
Leah Daughtry: Mr. Chairman, I worked on my first presidential campaign in the state of New Hampshire when I was a student at Dartmouth College, and I worked on the presidential campaign of the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
Jack Rodolico: That's Leah Daughtry. She's speaking on February 4th to a room of hundreds of Democrats, true believers, all people who work for the party in every state and US territory are in this room.
Leah Daughtry: New Hampshire is one of my favorite places - I go every year. I have the granite of New Hampshire and my muscles and my brain.
Jack Rodolico: Leah is speaking in the moments before the room votes. The Democratic National Committee is about to decide to either hang on to tradition or to create a new way to nominate presidential candidates. Leah is a pastor. The room hangs on her every word.
Leah Daughtry: Folks, I'm an oldest child. It was just me and my parents for a long time. And so I was always at the head of the line. And then my sisters arrived and my brother arrived and I had to make room. I would submit that family requires we like to say we're a family. It means that some folk got to shift to make room at the table for others. We cannot say that Black voters and Latino voters are important and matter and make us wait.
Jack Rodolico: I'm not going to bury the lead. The reason I'm here right now with you is because New Hampshire's stranglehold on the way we pick presidents. It looks like it's losing its grip. From New Hampshire public radio. This is Stranglehold. I'm Jack RODOLICO. What happens when an unstoppable force slams into an immovable object? The demographic shift in this country, especially within the Democratic Party, that's the unstoppable force. If you've been following this news at all, you know, the party finally shifted its presidential nominating calendar to give voters of color more sway for Democratic White House hopefuls. New Hampshire is no longer the first official primary. But the New Hampshire primary, or at least the people who see it as their job to protect it, that's the immovable object. New Hampshire is refusing to back down, saying it'll hold the Democratic primary first, even if the national Party punishes the state for it. It's a major test of the stranglehold and its power. And it was all set in motion by President Joe Biden. Which is funny because it's a shift for Biden himself.
Joe Biden: Oh, yeah. Well, I tell you what. You guys are going to determine who the next president United States is going to be.
Jack Rodolico: Senator Joe Biden in 2007 at a campaign stop in New Hampshire. He's doing the thing presidential candidates do, pandering to the almighty wisdom of Iowa and New Hampshire voters.
Joe Biden: Seriously? I mean, no, no matter what big states move up, no matter what happens. The truth of the matter is, if you can't cut it in Iowa, New Hampshire, you're not in the game.
Jack Rodolico: 13 years later, Biden proved himself wrong because in 2020, he navigated a path to the White House around New Hampshire and Iowa, not through them, a path that started in South Carolina. And once he was in the White House, Biden set a process in motion that dethrone those two states.
Josh Rogers: So are you intending to use this tape or this is just a chit chat?
Jack Rodolico: I might. Did you have enough coffee? Yeah. Okay. Josh Rogers, senior political reporter. Josh remembers that no matter how many times Biden tried, he could not win in the primary in New Hampshire. Biden first ran for the White House in 1987. He stopped in New Hampshire to campaign on the heels of a ballooning plagiarism scandal.
Josh Rogers: He ended up quitting the race after getting into an awkward confrontation.
Vox: What law school did you attend and where did you place in that class? And the other question is.
Joe Biden: I think I think I probably have a much higher IQ than you do, I suspect. I went to what kind of a blowhard?
Josh Rogers: I mean, in his younger days, certainly the first time he ran.
Joe Biden: And I'd be delighted to sit down and compare my IQ to yours if you'd like, Frank.
Jack Rodolico: In 87, Biden dropped out before the Iowa caucuses.
Joe Biden: There will be other opportunities for me to campaign for president then.
Jack Rodolico: 2008. Biden's second.
Josh Rogers: Run. The timing was tough. I mean, he was going against, you know, Obama and Clinton.
Jack Rodolico: This time, Biden loses badly in Iowa and drops out the same night.
Joe Biden: And let me make something clear to you. I ain't going away.
Jack Rodolico: Then 2020, Biden loses the Iowa caucuses, limps to New Hampshire and loses here badly.
Josh Rogers: He came in Fifth.
Jack Rodolico: Fifth. He was fifth.
Josh Rogers: Well, there was like Bernie, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Warren Biden. That was a real low ebb. I mean, everyone knew he was going to lose the primary. And it was tough because, you know, his whole campaign was in some sense predicated on getting to the big voting states in the South.
Jack Rodolico: The night of the 2020 New Hampshire primary. Biden made a strategic choice. He left when the results were announced that night. He was already in South Carolina.
Joe Biden: We just heard from the first two of 50 states, two of them not all the nation, not half the nation, not a quarter of the nation, not 10% to two. So when you hear all these pundits and experts, cable TV talkers talked about the race, tell them it ain't over, man. We're just getting started.
Jack Rodolico: He was right. Black voters. The party's base in South Carolina, propelled Biden to the nomination and then to the White House. And as President Biden controls the Democratic National Committee and the DNC controls the presidential nominating calendar. For decades, many Democrats pushed the DNC to break Iowa and New Hampshire's lock on the calendar to prioritize more diverse states. Then Biden comes along and wins the nomination and the White House doing just that for politicos. The next primary is always right around the corner. So pretty soon after Biden is elected, Democrats start looking to 2024. And early last year, the DNC makes an announcement. The old calendar is scrapped. They're making a new one. And it will prioritize three things. One. Diversity. Two. Competitiveness in the general election. Democrats want to hold presidential primaries in swing states. And three, they want to hold early primaries in states where they feel elections are open and trustworthy. With those criteria in place. The DNC opens an application process. They encourage local Democratic parties to make their case. Why should you vote for presidential nominees before other states? The DNC sends a crystal clear message to Iowa and New Hampshire If you want to stay first in the nation in 2024 and beyond, you have to fight for it. The DNC gets 20 applications. They hold a slew of hearings in 2022.
Joe Biden: New Hampshire has entered the room.
Jack Rodolico: And look, I recognize that the Rules and Bylaws Committee of the National Democratic Party doesn't sound like an awesome place where you want to spend a lot of fun time. But there are going to be some fireworks. First, let's listen in to the exchange between the committee and New Hampshire.
Vox: Okay. We're going to go ahead and get started. I know that they have thrown the committee off a little bit with the goodie bags. So, ladies and gentlemen, if you can look in your goodie bags a little later.
Jack Rodolico: Okay. So the goodie bags, they actually represent pretty well what New Hampshire is clinging to. There's maple syrup in there and chocolate in the shape of the state. A mug from the Red Arrow Diner, a greasy spoon and legendary campaign stop, a book written to celebrate the centennial of the New Hampshire primary. It's all very nostalgic.
Vox: You can see they get very excited about trinkets.
Jack Rodolico: After the goody bag ruckus settles. New Hampshire Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan lean hard into the stranglehold mythology.
Jeanne Shaheen: From our earliest days. New Hampshire has helped build American democracy.
Maggie Hassan: New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary forces candidates to talk to and listen to voters directly, making better candidates and making better presidents.
Jack Rodolico: If you listen to this whole podcast, you know, these are the classic New Hampshire primary talking points. We do retail politics better than anyone. New Hampshire voters take their job seriously. New Hampshire also made this other point that despite how the state is characterized, it is diversifying and has been for years. Joanne Dowdell, one of New Hampshire's reps to the DNC.
Joanne Dowdell: The face of New Hampshire is changing.
Jack Rodolico: The committee is complementary of New Hampshire and its presentation, but they also push back on voting rights. They say Republicans in New Hampshire's gerrymandered state House, they've tried again and again in recent years to restrict voting access.
Vox: You guys used to be the gold standard.
Jack Rodolico: And the committee really took issue with New Hampshire's particular line of argument. Because New Hampshire Dems aren't saying New Hampshire should be an early state. They're saying New Hampshire must be first.
Vox: It's still not clear to me why you guys have to be number one as opposed to early.
Leah Daughtry: The retail politics. I don't think.
Vox: That will change if one or two states go before New Hampshire.
Jack Rodolico: Throughout this whole application process in 2022, the White House is pretty much silent. Then in December, at the last possible moment, President Biden weighs in in a letter to the Rules and Bylaws Committee the night before, they're going to vote on a new calendar. He lays out the primary calendar he thinks they should adopt. Here it is. First South Carolina votes, then Nevada and New Hampshire on the same day. The week after that, Michigan and Georgia together. New Hampshire would go second and it would have to share.
Vox: All those in favor of the motion. Please say I. I oppose say, nay, nay. So the ayes clearly have it. And congratulations to all of us.
Jack Rodolico: Those two nays that were outvoted. Committee members from Iowa and New Hampshire. Now, this calendar isn't actually official yet at this point. It's just a committee vote to send it to the full DNC to vote on in February 2023. Still, the die is cast. This big change is underway. And after the committee vote, the chair of the DNC, Jaime Harrison, tries to put a pleasant spin on the whole thing.
Jaime Harrison: I just want to say thank you to all of you, because even despite the raw emotions, we have carried ourselves in the most dignified manner that I've ever seen.
Jack Rodolico: Well, up to that point at least. Here's the problem. The DNC awards, New Hampshire, this spot in the calendar, along with an ultimatum. The committee wants New Hampshire to expand early voting and to repeal an old state law that says New Hampshire's presidential primary must be first. That's a very bitter pill for national Democrats to serve up to New Hampshire Dems, because this ultimatum is not going to fly in the state's GOP controlled legislature. But the DNC also isn't about to carve out a special status for New Hampshire. Now, on top of all that, the DNC gives this new calendar some teeth. If any state jumps the line. Then the DNC will strip that state of half its delegates to the next national convention. If a candidate campaigns in a state that jumps the line, the candidate's punished, too. If they win that state, the DNC won't award them any delegates. Basically, for states that don't follow the rules. It could be as if their primary never happened. Here's what it all adds up to. The DNC lays out this ultimatum to New Hampshire Get these things done or you're out of the early window entirely.
Chris Sununu: I have a very clear message for President Biden. You can come and try and take it, but it is never going to happen.
Jack Rodolico: This plan becomes an easy target for New Hampshire Republicans. To be clear, the DNC plan has no impact on the Republican presidential primaries. New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, who is currently flirting with his own presidential run, he frames the whole thing like President Biden is tossing the primary into a sack and running away with it.
Chris Sununu: It is just not in our DNA to give it up and take orders from Washington, D.C..
Jack Rodolico: Meanwhile, New Hampshire Democrats are in an unenviable position. They're defending themselves from Republican attacks, sometimes by blame shifting to the DNC.
Ray Buckley: Well, we were certainly was surprised.
Jack Rodolico: That's Ray Buckley, chair of the state Democratic Party. He was surprised, despite the fact that the DNC was working on this calendar for almost a year. New Hampshire Dems like Buckley and Senator Jeanne Shaheen also kept using this particular imagery about the national Party.
Ray Buckley: This looks like a plan that was put together by some D.C. powerbrokers.
Jeanne Shaheen: We don't think these decisions should be made just by party bosses.
Ray Buckley: It brings back politics, the smoke filled rooms.
Jeanne Shaheen: And backroom someplace. The voters need to have a chance to weigh in.
Jack Rodolico: Here's what's confusing about this argument from New Hampshire Dems smoke filled back rooms. That's a metaphor now, but it used to be a real thing. It's a reference to party bosses in a room by themselves picking their general election nominees. It's a callback to a time when voters had no say over who a party nominated. But the DNC did not cut voters out. They simply changed the order of who votes when for the party nominee. Even that word smoke filled. It sounds so sketchy and secretive. This is all live streamed on YouTube. And I didn't see a cigaret burning. New Hampshire Dems get a little petty. A former House speaker says he'll abandon Biden if he runs again, and a former governor predicts the entire state would turn on Biden. Both these guys are Biden loyalists.
Vox: I'll look for another candidate before I support Joe Biden. If you should go so far as to take away the first of the nation primary.
John Lynch: Now we have four electoral votes, a small number of votes, but we are a purple state and our four votes matter. And I think President Biden is putting those four electoral votes at risk.
Jack Rodolico: At the next meeting of the Rules and Bylaws Committee. Committee members go off.
Vox: The recent press coverage coming out of New Hampshire is disturbing. It does not help us to have this divisiveness and share it in public.
Vox: What New Hampshire is now arguing. Is that? They can never, ever, ever change. And no one else in this wonderful country of ours. Can ever actually be in that mix at the beginning.
Jack Rodolico: They start to say the quiet part out loud. New Hampshire, we know you always like to say your first, but you're not. For decades, Iowa was first, you were second, and we voted to keep you second.
Vox: We have maintained the tradition that New Hampshire has asked us to maintain.
Leah Daughtry: 26 presidential cycles. 26. We know your.
Joe Biden: Story.
Vox: Let us allow another group of Americans to tell their story.
Jack Rodolico: And here's where New Hampshire Dems really get in trouble with their party. It's with this old state law that says New Hampshire must vote first. Yes, it is true that New Hampshire Dems can't change this law with Republicans in control of the state House.
Jack Rodolico: It's not like they're saying they're willing to change it. In fact, they say the law guarantees the state will defy the DNC's plans. The law tells the secretary of state to go seven days before any similar contest. So if South Carolina is scheduled for February 3rd, 2024, you can be sure New Hampshire is going to hold a primary in the last week of January. Here's Senator Jeanne Shaheen.
Jeanne Shaheen: Now we have a state law that says we're going to go first. So we're going to go first.
Jack Rodolico: Too many Democrats, especially people of color, outside of New Hampshire. This argument is ignorant.
Leah Daughtry: Hanging their argument on this 100 year old privilege is really for me as an African American woman. Quite disturbing in as much as this law that they passed was passed even before Black people had the right to vote.
Hannah McCarthy: We're going to take a quick break. And afterward, we will hear what happens when the Democratic National Committee hears from its leader, President Joe Biden, and then takes a vote that will determine New Hampshire's political fate.
Nick Capodice: But first, if you listen to civics one on one on the reg, you've heard us say it before. We are produced at a public radio station. So what does this mean? It means that despite the occasional ad you might hear in the podcast, we do not have a bunch of corporate cash or venture capital backing our show, and it's quite expensive to make. So if you value what we do here each week, if you value the kind of journalism you're hearing from us each week, journalism that truly gets inside the institutions where insiders gather, we ask you to consider making a contribution to NPR because without listener support, we can't do what we do. And every single one of your donations, each one truly makes a difference. You can find a link to donate in the show notes or at civics101podcast.org. And thank you.
Nick Capodice: We're back. I'm Nick Capodice.
Hannah McCarthy: I'm Hannah McCarthy.
Nick Capodice: And today we're presenting something different on Civics 101, an episode of Stranglehold, reported by our colleague Jack Rodolico.
Hannah McCarthy: Let's get back to it.
Jack Rodolico: It's the first week of February and the Democratic National Committee meets up at a hotel in downtown Philadelphia. This is the big meeting where the full party leadership will vote on the new primary calendar. I want to be there to see how it all goes down. So I get my press credentials and fly down from New Hampshire.
Vox: Mr. Chair, floor is all yours.
Jack Rodolico: The day I show up, I follow the Democratic Party chair, Jaime Harrison, as he hustles from room to room. Democrats break out into regional caucuses Midwest, West, North, South. Harrison drops in and all of them gives them all the same little stump speech.
Jaime Harrison: Kevin McCarthy Is this Airbnb being the house right now? Yeah. Right now Kevin McCarthy is just being and being it right. But he's one of those Airbnb tenants that just mess your place up. You got to pull the carpet, you got to paint the walls, you'll funk it all up. My grandma said, You got just bleach everything down and we probably have to do that after. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Jack Rodolico: He pats them all on the back about the midterms, braces them for fights ahead. My ears perk up when he says this one thing to the Southern caucus. Jaime Harrison is from South Carolina. He ran the Democratic Party there before Biden tapped him to run the DNC. And he talks about himself as the kind of person his party has always relied on but long ignored. Born in the South.
Jaime Harrison: We are going to vote this weekend on a primary schedule that allows the South to stand up to be heard. And I am proud of that. You know, I just had an interview with a reporter just recently and he was talking about it in the report. I asked me was like, what will they add to the mix? I said, Have you ever heard about the infant mortality rates of Black women? We would not have known about that on the presidential level. But for Vice President Kamala Harris going into South Carolina campaigning, President Biden going into South Carolina, campaigning, talking to Black women about the health disparities. We all know about ethanol, and we know about it because of Iowa's prominence in the presidential primary. Right. And that influenced in the policies that came out of the Democratic nominee.
Jack Rodolico: Test, test. Party loyalists are lockstep supporting this new calendar. They're taking their lead from President Biden and Chairman Harrison. And that makes New Hampshire's position all the more noticeable. Take Ardie Blanco. I miss Blanco. Yes. Artie represents Nevada on the Rules and Bylaws Committee. She's not crazy about the idea of Nevada sharing a date on the calendar with another state. Still, she supports the change. I ask what she thinks about the threats from New Hampshire that regardless of the process, New Hampshire is just going to jump the line in 2024.
Vox: And so, yes, it's definitely inconsiderate, to be quite honest with you. It's definitely more of a we're better than everyone kind of attitude, which is not a value of the Democratic Party.
Jack Rodolico: That that word inconsiderate. You search for that word carefully. But it seems like that lands.
Vox: I think that landed because there is no consideration for any progress.
Jack Rodolico: I wander the lobby snagging interviews where I can. What do you think about the calendar? I ask. What do you think of New Hampshire?
Vox: I guess they're hurt, you know. It always gave New Hampshire its identity.
Jack Rodolico: This is John Graham, a delegate from New Jersey. To me, he represents a political reality inside the party. It's not only people of color or people from states who have something to gain who want this change.
Vox: I love to go on up to New Hampshire with Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and everyone when they went up and when I was handling their campaigns. But sometimes change like this is important.
Jack Rodolico: In my unscientific hallway polling about the calendar and New Hampshire, I come across just one person who is all in on New Hampshire being first. His name is Samay Sahu. He's young, just 18. The national chairman of the high School Democrats of America. And guess where he's from? New Hampshire.
Samay Sahu: I totally agree with the DNC messaging and goal of promoting more diversity in our primary process. It just makes sense, you know? But I think that it doesn't have to be one way or the other with an ultimatum of New Hampshire not being first.
Jack Rodolico: Samay is an impressive young man. He's a high school senior who is more engaged in politics than most of us ever will be. And I have to say, it is a bit surreal to hear all of the New Hampshire talking points coming out of the mouth of an 18 year old. In fact, I think Samay's bluntness clarified for me. What? Is so frustrating for national Dems. Here's the best analogy I can come up with. The Democratic Party is a big extended family and the primary calendar is Thanksgiving dinner. The party says everyone has a seat at the table. New Hampshire, you sit right up here. Here's a great seat just for you. One of the best seats we have. In New Hampshire is like, I'm not sitting here. I'm sitting there at the head of the table. And then instead of setting it all, New Hampshire flips the table and walks out.
Samay Sahu: I think it'll be all right. I think at the end of the day, I'd like to believe that the DNC is going to end up realizing that there's nothing that they can do regarding moving New Hampshire because we can't change our state law.
Jack Rodolico: Do you think New Hampshire is going to stare him down and the DNC is going to buckle?
Samay Sahu: That's what we've been doing, and I think that's what's going to happen.
Vox: And I present.
Jack Rodolico: That night, the president and vice president drop in. It's not officially a campaign stop, but it sounds like practice to me.
Joe Biden: Some of you, although you've been good to me, I don't think you've really believed that we were going to do as well as you did in the off-year election. But we got a lot more to do. That's got a lot more to do.
Jack Rodolico: Biden does not mention the primary calendar, but he doesn't need to. Everyone in the room knows he endorsed it and he knows that the next day everyone in the room is going to vote on it.
Joe Biden: So let me ask you a simple question. Are you with me?
Jack Rodolico: Okay, so I got to get out of here. It's too hot. I don't normally go to these kinds of political events. By the time the Secret Service allows people to start leaving, my ears are ringing, and the air just tastes stale. It's so much cooler out here. Holy crap. It all kind of puts New Hampshire's position into perspective. Because what a political party is about above all else is unity. So when you have one state. Kind of thrown up their hands like, "But our law." Nobody here gives a damn about that law. And it doesn't feel like a real obstacle. To change, or at least that it shouldn't be. But it is.
Vox: Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
Jack Rodolico: The convention room is as big as an airplane hangar with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and rows and rows of folding tables labeled for each state and territory. I'm up on a press riser in the middle of the room and on either side of the riser down on the floor, there's a microphone with people queuing up to speak about the calendar.
Jaime Harrison: The Rules and Bylaws Committee has presented his report, and it's moved moved its approval by the membership. Is there any discussion?
Jack Rodolico: New Hampshire makes its case one last time. They don't go so far as to ask people to join them in voting against the calendar, but they do want everyone to know that they feel their hands are tied and they're being treated unfairly. Ray Buckley, chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party.
Ray Buckley: The RBC knows full well that New Hampshire Democrats could not possibly unilaterally change state laws. They knew that the Republican leaders in the state would not bend to their will. And even knowing this, the RBC still decided that New Hampshire Democrats should be set up for failure.
Jack Rodolico: Everyone knows how this vote is going to go. And still comments like this from New Hampshire seem to raise the temperature in the room. Many of the next speakers look in the direction of the room where New Hampshire is sitting as they speak.
Ray Buckley: Be careful all respect to the past of what you guys have done. We can do it too. Just be careful. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Leah Daughtry: Here's a reality. No one state should have a lock on going first. Fellow Democrats. You can't say you're for elevating this coalition's voice, but still, ask us to wait our turn. I'm done waiting. I've heard a lot about this being punishment. This was not about punishment. This was about acknowledgment.
Jack Rodolico: One of the last speakers was that voice you heard up at the top of the show, Leah Daughtry, the pastor who went to college in New Hampshire, who said she's got granite in her blood and her brain.
Leah Daughtry: Now, the Supreme Court has been clear that the party has the right to set its rules. And you can have a law that says you're first. Well, then I'm from New York. I'm going to petition my governor that we should be first and you petition your government. So we're going to have 56 state parties that all have a state law that says they should be first. It's not fair. It's not right. And so I want to urge you to vote for change because change is overdue. But change is now. Thank you.
Jaime Harrison: With that, we will move to a vote on the motion to approve the report of the Rules and Bylaws Committee. All those in favor of approving the report say I all oppose. Nay. The ayes have it. And the report and the Rules and Bylaws Committee has been adopted.
Jack Rodolico: So the stranglehold enters uncharted waters. Think about it like this. The New Hampshire primary always had two halves. Democrat and Republican. One half is being rewritten as we speak. The other half remains unchanged. In 2024, the GOP still plans to caucus first in Iowa, then primary in New Hampshire on down the line. As of the day, I'm recording this. The only Republicans who've declared their candidacy, they've already dropped in.
Donald Trump: You have it your first and you're going to remain first.
Nikki Haley: You have a beautiful state. You have an even more beautiful motto to live free or die.
Jack Rodolico: So New Hampshire maintains its grip on the GOP. For Democrats, though, it's murky. Again, my colleague Josh Rogers.
Josh Rogers: I believe state election officials when they say they're going to be holding a primary.
Jack Rodolico: The DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee gave New Hampshire until June to comply with its ultimatum, which seems unlikely. So looking down the line, whether in 2024 or 2028, let's say New Hampshire election officials do what they say they're going to do, they hold a primary for both parties ahead of South Carolina. Democratic candidates will have a choice to make.
Josh Rogers: The only thing that's ever made the New Hampshire primary, what it is, is the fact that people have chosen to compete here. Candidates want to run here like they're worse things to do then than win a state primary that people have heard of. Regardless of how many people vote here, regardless of whether it's fully approved of by the party.
Jack Rodolico: Maybe there are Democratic candidates who will see a path to the White House through New Hampshire. Maybe a win here doesn't get them any delegates, but it garners them a whole bunch of national media attention and the momentum that comes along with that attention. Maybe or maybe candidates decide to go straight to the state that for the time being, seems to pick presidents.
Deyaska Spencer-Sweatman: We literally no more falling. All right. Have a good day. I'm so sorry. You. You took a little bit longer. So my client, this.
Jack Rodolico: Is Dale Vasquez, Spencer Sweetman, and I called her up because she lives in the bluest county in South Carolina.
Deyaska Spencer-Sweatman: And I am county chair of the Richland County Democratic Party.
Jack Rodolico: Richland County is already very plugged in. The city of Columbia is there, the state capital, and it overlaps with the district of Congressman James Clyburn. He's an elder statesman of Democratic politics in South Carolina. And his endorsement was crucial to Biden carrying the state in the 2020 primary.
Deyaska Spencer-Sweatman: We do our job here in Richland County. We turn out the vote.
Jack Rodolico: De Yassky is going to be at the crossroads of everything that lays ahead in Democratic politics and whatever mythology New Hampshire has about its place in presidential politics. Here's the story DACA tells about South Carolina.
Deyaska Spencer-Sweatman: We've been called and we're answering that call. It was a crowded field in 2020, super crowded Democratic field and South Carolina. And because of Congressman Clyburn and because of our excellent discernment and judgment, decided that we needed someone to save the country.
Jack Rodolico: Like you frame it sort of like a superhero origin story. Forgive me if that seems a little overblown.
Deyaska Spencer-Sweatman: Jack. Jack, I think we were the firewall between good and, you know, a slippery slope back into more extremist Trump like January six insurrection style politics.
Jack Rodolico: How do you feel? Personally.
Deyaska Spencer-Sweatman: I feel responsible. It's a tall order in South Carolina is ready to fill the order. Remind me who who was it that New Hampshire out of the New Hampshire primary? Who was it that you guys nominated to become president?
Jack Rodolico: Which time are we talking? Last time?
Deyaska Spencer-Sweatman: Yeah, last time. 20, 2020.
Jack Rodolico: It was Bernie Biden was fifth.
Deyaska Spencer-Sweatman: And Oh, my God, you guys are so progressive. New Hampshire and I love New Hampshire. Quite cute tuned in, but that's not palatable to the whole of America. And I don't see New Hampshire not supporting South Carolina when South Carolina has always supported New Hampshire.
Jack Rodolico: I think you underestimate or overestimate New Hampshire a little bit. Don't be sorry to say. I mean, you know, that's just my opinion.
Jack Rodolico: This episode of Stranglehold was reported and produced by me, Jack Rodolico. It was edited by Katie Colaneri. Dan Barrick and Rebecca Lavoie are Executive Producers. Additional editing by Casey McDermott, Jason Moon, and Josh Rogers. Mixing by Rebecca Lavoie. Music by Jason Moon and Lucas Anderson. Graphics by Sara Plourde.
Vox (outtake): Previously on Stranglehold. Previously on Stranglehold. Previously on Stranglehold... Mwa Ha ha ha.