2024 NH primary will be held on Jan. 23, secretary of state announces

The 2024 New Hampshire Presidential Primary will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 23, Secretary of State David Scanlan announced Wednesday afternoon.

The closely-guarded secret was revealed at a press conference at 2 p.m. in the Hall of Flags at the New Hampshire State House in Concord.

New Hampshire has held the nation's first presidential primary for the past century, successfully fending off challenges from other states, thanks in large part to a state law that gives the secretary of state sole authority to set the date and mandates that it be at least a week before any similar contest.

"In today's society, it seems we are quick to eliminate traditions and ignore them, but I would like to think that 100 years from now, the people of this country will really be glad that we kept this one," Scanlan said Wednesday.

"The first-in-the-nation primary is something that is earned," Gov. Chris Sununu added. "What makes New Hampshire different is we really are a bottom up state. You don't need a name, you don't need money -- you just need to come out and earn it person to person. That's something we take very seriously here. That's why we have such high voter turnout, such high voter participation... We're kind of that first filter for the rest of the country."

By setting its primary date on Jan. 23, New Hampshire is defying a new Democratic calendar that has South Carolina leading off presidential primary voting on Feb. 3 and Nevada going three days later.

The changes, made at President Joe Biden's request, are meant to better empower Black and minority voters by leading off in a state with more people of color than New Hampshire has.

But Scanlan has countered that no state truly represents the nation's demographics and that New Hampshire deserves to stay first for a multitude of reasons: It's neither red nor blue, it's a small state geographically and it has a small media market. Voter turnout is high and citizens are engaged, he said.

"The truth is there is no state that reflects the makeup of America, and no state is more American than any other state," he said Wednesday. "Diversity is not the real issue. At stake is who gets to determine the nominee... New Hampshire believes the voters of each state should decide who they prefer as nominee to be president, not the powerbrokers in Washington, D.C."

"Using racial diversity as a cudgel in an attempt to rearrange the presidential calendar is an ugly precedent. At what point does a state become too old, or too wealthy, or too educated, or too religious to hold a primary?"

"We haven't changed a thing," Sununu noted. "I know the DNC tried to take it, we got pushback from Iowa. We haven't changed a thing in New Hampshire. We're going first because our law says so, because we've earned it."

There will be 21 names on the Democratic ballot and 24 on the GOP ballot in next year's primary. In 2020, 33 Democrats and 17 Republicans signed up. The all-time high was in 1992, when 61 people got on the ballot.

Ray Buckley, chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, issued a statement after the announcement praising Scanlan's decision.

"For more than 100 years, Presidential candidates of both parties have come to the Granite State time and again because, no matter who they are, where they come from, or how much money they have, they know they will get a fair shot from Granite Staters," he said.

New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Chris Ager issued a statement as well, calling Biden's decision not to file for the 2024 New Hampshire primary "a slap in the face to all Granite Staters."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.