Weak. Feckless. Rolled.
New Hampshire's Democrats got steamrolled by their own party.
National Democrats declared this state too white to vote first and demoted us to third. Shaheen, Hassan, Pappas and Buckley responded with a strongly worded letter.
It was worth four votes. Not one of them broke with the DNC. Not one of them said a word about the fine aimed at their own state. They complained, and then they took it.
The rest of us are going first anyway.
SEE WHAT THEY SAIDWhy They Did It, In Their Own Words
Democrats looked at New Hampshire and decided we are the wrong kind of state.
They do not deny it. The whole justification for demoting New Hampshire is that our voters do not look the way national Democrats want their voters to look. Here is how they say it out loud.
“Just like my Administration, the Democratic Party has worked hard to reflect the diversity of America — but our nominating process does not.”
Joe Biden · Letter to the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee
He wrote that early states “must reflect the overall diversity of our party and our nation — economically, geographically, demographically.” New Hampshire was demoted the next cycle. Read the sentence again and ask which box Democrats decided you fail.
“The most diverse calendar Democrats have ever had for an open nominating contest.”
Minyon Moore and James Roosevelt Jr. · DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee co-chairs
That is the boast they issued while burying New Hampshire in third. The press wrote it even plainer: the overhaul replaced two heavily white states at the top of the calendar with states Democrats consider more suitable.
Strip out the press-release language and here is what national Democrats are telling Granite Staters:
Your state is too white to vote first.
Not that you voted wrong. Not that you ran a bad election. New Hampshire has run a clean, high-turnout, retail-politics primary for 106 years, and Democrats sorted this state by demographics and found it wanting. They are not hiding it. They put it in a press release and called it progress.
Sources: President Biden's letter to the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee; statement of RBC co-chairs Minyon Moore and James Roosevelt Jr., July 24, 2026; contemporaneous reporting by NBC News, NPR, and CNN.
After the Vote
The statements came fast, once the result was safely final and nothing was at stake. Not one of them changed a thing.
“The Democratic National Committee's decision today is wrong for Democrats, wrong for New Hampshire, and wrong for the country.”
Joint statement
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Sen. Maggie Hassan, Rep. Chris Pappas, Rep. Maggie Goodlander
“Today's vote shows that many party insiders have learned nothing from 2024.”
Raymond Buckley
Chairman, New Hampshire Democratic Party
“This committee's vote does not change the realities governing New Hampshire's primary, which are beyond the control of both this committee and our state party.”
Raymond Buckley
Chairman, New Hampshire Democratic Party
Read that again. It is not a promise to fight. It is a man explaining that the outcome was never his to control. The chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party is telling Granite Staters, in writing, that decisions about their election get made somewhere else by people he answers to. He is not wrong. That is the whole problem.
Before the Vote
The statements arrived after the decision was final. In the weeks when the outcome was still open, the record looks different.
As the DNC's committee moved toward stripping the primary, Rep. Chris Pappas — running for the United States Senate — declined to respond to requests for comment and issued no public statement.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cinde Warmington also declined to respond.
The objections arrived after the vote was lost, when they cost nothing and risked nothing. That is the pattern: silence while it matters, outrage once it is safe.
What the Objection Was Worth
Four votes.
That is what New Hampshire's case received on the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee. Two sitting United States Senators, two members of Congress, and a state party chairman who has sat on the national committee for years — four votes. Whatever influence they claim to have in Washington, this is the measurement.
Not one of them withheld support from the national party. Not one threatened to break with the calendar. Not one said a word about the fine aimed at their own state. They wrote that it was wrong, and then they took it.
Ask the obvious question: if New Hampshire Democrats will not stand up to their own party over New Hampshire's own election, what exactly will they stand up over?
Meanwhile, the officials actually protecting New Hampshire's primary are the ones enforcing state law — the Secretary of State, who has said the primary will go first because RSA 653:9 requires it.
This Is the Second Time
In 2024, the president skipped New Hampshire's ballot. Our Democrats ran a write-in campaign for him.
Sen. Shaheen, Sen. Hassan, and Chairman Buckley took part in the write-in effort that covered for a president who would not put his name on New Hampshire's ballot. DNC officials called the primary “meaningless” and warned the delegates might not be seated.
Sen. Hassan said the DNC “made a terrible decision not to have New Hampshire go first.” Sen. Shaheen said she had told the president of her “frustration.” The primary was demoted anyway. Two years later, their party did it again.
When Washington and New Hampshire disagree, watch which one they pick.
They picked Washington. They always do. It is the same in Concord — see how the Democrats who represent you voted on the income tax, your schools, and your rights.
Sources
Joint statement of Sens. Shaheen and Hassan and Reps. Pappas and Goodlander, July 24, 2026, as reported by The Boston Globe and InDepthNH.
Statements of NHDP Chairman Raymond Buckley, July 24, 2026, as reported by InDepthNH and The Boston Globe.
Pre-vote requests for comment declined by Rep. Pappas and Cinde Warmington, as reported by New Hampshire Journal.
2024 write-in campaign and DNC delegate warnings, as reported by The Boston Globe, CBS News, and NBC News.
New Hampshire RSA 653:9, Presidential Primary Election.
Here Is Our Answer
We're going first
anyway.
The DNC can vote all it likes. It does not set New Hampshire's election dates. New Hampshire law does.
They can keep their calendar, their fine, and their opinion of how our state looks. The first ballots of 2028 are getting cast right here, the way they have been for 106 years.
“New Hampshire will follow its law and 106-year-old tradition of holding the First-in-the-Nation Presidential Primary.”
David Scanlan · New Hampshire Secretary of State
“I'm sworn to uphold that, and I intend to do so when it comes to the 2028 calendar.”
Secretary of State David Scanlan
“We will not back down from defending New Hampshire's place in history, and I look forward to hosting the first primaries for both parties in 2028.”
Gov. Kelly Ayotte
Fine us. Refuse our delegates. Threaten anyone who dares talk to a Granite Stater. New Hampshire is going first anyway, and there is not one thing the Democratic National Committee can do about it.
Statements of Secretary of State David Scanlan and Gov. Kelly Ayotte, July 24, 2026. New Hampshire RSA 653:9.
More on the primary
They moved New Hampshire to third
The 2028 calendar national Democrats voted for, and what New Hampshire law says.
The $270,000 fine for voting first
A fine, stripped delegates, and a debate ban aimed at anyone who campaigns here.
Our voters vex the bosses
Undeclared voters are the largest bloc in New Hampshire. That is the real problem.