By Ashleigh Fields
AFRO Assistant Editor
afields@afro.com
Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden remain top contenders in the 2024 presidential election. Both of them won the New Hampshire primary for their respective parties this week with only one of the two appearing on the ballot.
Biden secured 73 percent of the votes as a write-in candidate over Dean Phillips (D-Minn.- 3) and self help author Marianne Williamson.
The sitting president chose not to appear on the ballot after a startling change to the Democratic primary calendar shifting the first official primary from New Hampshire to South Carolina for the first time in over 100 years.
Nonetheless New Hampshire state law mandates that it holds the first primary in the nation which secures privatized ballots unlike the Iowa Caucus.
Due to the calendar dispute, Biden was prevented from campaigning in state without penalty but sent cabinet members and close confidants to wager support which proved to be a worthy cause until a deceptive voicemail targeted at voters discouraged citizens from participating in the primary.
“It’s important that you save your vote for the November election,” declared the voice believed to be generated by AI.
The Biden campaign team immediately reported the robocalls to the attorney general which is currently investigating the matter.
Despite the setback, Biden emerged victorious thanks to backing from a super PAC that reportedly poured $1.5 million into the effort. However, the results won’t count towards the president’s official nomination in spite of the calendar contention with the Democratic party.
Republicans have far from lamented over the grievance.
In a close resemblance to Iowa, Trump garnered the support of over 50 percent of voters. This time, former ambassador, Nikki Haley trailed by a small margin with upwards of 45 percent of voters after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) and Vivek Ramaswamy suspended their campaigns pledging loyalty to Trump.
It’s clear that Haley is moving ahead with full steam regardless of voter polls.
“New Hampshire is first in the nation. It is not the last in the nation. This race is far from over. There are dozens of states left to go. And the next one is my sweet state of South Carolina,” said an emboldened Haley at a campaign rally on Jan. 23.
“With Donald Trump, Republicans have lost almost every competitive election. We lost the Senate. We lost the House. We lost the White House. We lost in 2018. We lost in 2020, and we lost in 2022. The worst kept secret in politics is how badly the Democrats want to run against Donald Trump. They know Trump is the only Republican in the country who Joe Biden can defeat,” she later continued. “A Trump nomination is a Biden win and a Kamala Harris presidency.”
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