ICYMI – NH Dems “Officially” Lost Their First in the Nation New Hampshire Primary (And It’s Still their Fault).
A few days ago, news broke that made it official. The Democrat National Committee called NH Dems out for their systemic racism by taking away their first in the nation primary.
Related: Can Democrats Overcome “Systemic Racial Inequality” When They Can’t Manage it in Their Primary?
The Democratic Party on Saturday approved the reordering of its 2024 presidential primary, replacing Iowa with South Carolina in the leadoff spot as part of a major shake-up meant to empower Black and other minority voters critical to its base of support.
New Hampshire would share a primary with Nevada three days later. It is a problem NH Dems had years to address but, as we’ve noted previously, ignored.
Not once did Democrats in that district pick a person of color over the pasty white incumbent. And at no point in any congressional race in NH history have NH Democrats nominated a person of color in a primary or elected one to higher office. White women, check. Gay white guy, check. People of color?
When super-white Carol Shea-Porter retired and left the NH CD-1 seat open in 2018, ten Democrats stepped up in that primary, all white.
In the 2012 contest, when Carol vied to get the seat back from Republican Frank Guinta, Caroll Dowdell announced she wanted a shot at the seat, but the state party convinced her to drop out to clear the way for pasty white Carol Shae-Porter. Carol won, but at what price?
The white price. Instead of building an inclusive and diverse bench to elevate candidates of color, they went all white all day and night. At the same time, those “racist” Republicans were nominating people of color almost every cycle, while Democrats were defending pasty white incumbents even when polling suggested it was time for a change on the Democrat side.
Joann Dowdell has risen in the state party apparatus, but she’s one of few, and the Dems can’t even fall back on the truth. It might be that people of color are not all that interested in New Hampshire. It’s cold half the year, the ticks and black flies suck, they can’t get enough natural vitamin D because of the latitude, and it’s mostly rural. According to the experts in attracting people of color, they prefer a more urban setting with accessible government services.
“Prior to now, there has not been any specific driving force for people of color, doesn’t matter which color, to move to New Hampshire. There has not been a reason to do so,” said Rogers Johnson, a former state representative and the president of the Seacoast NAACP. “The reasons (for migration) in the past have been economic development, centered on large cities … nobody of color thinks of Manchester, Burlington, and Portland as a large city. There’s not a social infrastructure in any of those states.”
Social infrastructure?
What the hell is social infrastructure? I had to look it up.
Social infrastructure can be broadly defined as the construction and maintenance of facilities that support social services. Types of social infrastructure include healthcare (hospitals), education (schools and universities), public facilities (community housing and prisons) and transportation (railways and roads).
And when NH Dems had the chance to do just one thing in New Hampshire that is popular with people of color, they shot it down and stomped all over it—proving, as with their candidates, that for all the talk about color and discrimination and equity, at the end of every day, it’s about politics and power.
And it cost them their first in the nation primary. It cost them the status, prestige, attention, networking, the influx of campaigns, and money from which the first primary uniquely benefits.
And yes, they will still have to hold their presidential primary when the Republicans hold theirs. State law requires ours to be first, and we are not doing two of them. It will be before anything on the Democrat calendar, and yes, the DNC will punish them for it. Even though it will happen before South Carolina, it won’t be the same for them (peer pressure).
And the NH Dems are stuck with it unless pasty white Ray Buckley, the NH Dem Party Chair, resigns (my speculation), taking this legacy with him, and they anoint a person of color to replace him.
Maybe Joanne Dowdell?
Would it be enough to get the primary back? That depends, ironically, on Democrat politics.
