Manchester, New Hampshire – Hours before President Biden returned to New Hampshire for the first time in nearly two years, Steve Shurtleff said he would forgive but not forget.
“I forgive, but I haven’t forgotten how New Hampshire was treated,” the longtime Democratic state representative and former state House speaker told Fox News on Monday.
Mr. Shurtleff has been an ardent supporter of Mr. Biden since the president first ran for the White House in 1988, but last year the Democratic National Committee took Mr. He broke with Biden over his attempts to force him out of his party role. National presidential reserve state.
New Hampshire complies with state law requiring presidential primaries to be held first, and did just that. This meant that the state’s nomination contest on January 23rd was not sanctioned by the Democratic Party.
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Supporters of the “Write in Joe Biden” movement during the New Hampshire primary pose for a photo in Concord, New Hampshire, on January 19, 2024. (Fox News – Claire O’Connor)
Mr. Biden withdrew his name from the ballot and distanced himself from the state, but thanks to a write-in effort by Democratic establishment leaders in New Hampshire, the president easily defeated tough challengers in the primary. I won.
Mr. Shurtleff supported and campaigned on behalf of one of those challengers, Representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota.
But with the New Hampshire primary in the rearview mirror and a rematch between Biden and former President Trump underway in the general election, Shurtleff appears to be leaning toward supporting Biden again.
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“We have to move forward. We have an election coming up and I’m concerned about candidate Trump, so I’ll probably vote for Joe Biden,” he told Fox News. “When you compare Joe Biden to Donald Trump, it’s scary to think about what will happen to our country under another Trump president.”
In addition to hosting the first presidential primary in a century, New Hampshire has also been a battleground state in general elections for decades.
It’s also part of the president’s itinerary, which will see him visit several battleground states following last week’s State of the Union address.
President Biden speaks at a campaign rally at Pullman Yards in Atlanta, Saturday, March 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Senator)
He will spotlight how his administration has reduced the cost of living for American families amid the soaring inflation that plagued the nation during his first two years in the White House.
During his visit to Goffstown, New Hampshire, he is also expected to propose extending Medicare’s $2,000 annual out-of-pocket drug cap to people with commercial insurance. The president also plans to ask lawmakers to expand the $35 monthly cost cap on insulin for the commercial market, White House officials said.
Mr. Biden will also ask Congress to allow Medicare to negotiate prices for at least 50 drugs a year, and he plans to urge federal lawmakers to make permanent changes to the Affordable Care Act, which expires next year.
The president emphasized concrete actions in his State of the Union address last week.
President Biden (left) speaks with New Hampshire Ports Authority Director Geno Marconi during a tour of the New Hampshire Ports Authority on April 19, 2022 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
This will be Biden’s first visit to New Hampshire since he visited Portsmouth in April 2022.
Following the official event, Biden is scheduled to meet with New Hampshire Democratic lawmakers during a campaign event near Manchester, the state’s largest city.
This appears to be part of the president’s political mission to relieve the painful feelings of the primary election season.
“The combination of But it was clear from the initial results.” Support for President Biden’s policies and record, combined with the need to defeat Donald Trump and his authoritarian tendencies, was enough for Democrats to vote for Joe Biden in the primary. ”
Additionally, Sullivan predicted, “I think it’s going to be even better in November.”
Republican presidential candidate former President Trump speaks at a primary election night party in Nashua, New Hampshire, Tuesday, January 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Pablo Martínez Monsivais)
Trump narrowly lost New Hampshire to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 general election, but it wasn’t that close four years ago, when Biden led the state by more than 7 points.
While Biden has been away from New Hampshire for the past few years, Trump regularly visits the state, where he won the state’s Republican presidential primary by 11 points in January.
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A New Hampshire progressive activist, who requested anonymity to speak more freely, argued that Biden is the “weakest candidate” and predicted that President Trump would make the state extremely competitive in November. did.
But “I think the basics are the same,” said Mo Baxley, another progressive activist who was a strong supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ two presidential campaigns in the state. said. [Biden].
Baxley, a former vice chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, emphasized that “people cannot afford not to vote for the president because of an election.” [primary controversy]. Our base is a little smarter than that. The stakes are too high. ”
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