New Hampshire says its primary will be first, defying Democratic Party leaders

New Hampshire will hold its presidential primary on Jan. 23, state officials said Wednesday. The announcement affirms the state's 100-year tradition of hosting the nation's first presidential primary, but it defies plans by the Democratic Party and President Joe Biden to have South Carolina vote ahead of the Granite State.

The date falls a week after the Iowa caucuses — and in a rebuke to the Democratic National Committee, a week before the primary in South Carolina.

"We haven't changed a thing in New Hampshire," Gov. Chris Sununu said, speaking at the State House in Concord. He pointed out that state law requires New Hampshire to hold its primary ahead of any other state.

"We are the ones who are trying to be amazingly consistent," he said.

The announcement is a reproach to the Democratic National Committee, which decided to move South Carolina's primary ahead of New Hampshire's. The DNC's plan, supported by President Biden, is an effort to give a state with a more racially diverse population more influence in the primary season.

The Republican Party did not alter its voting schedule, leaving the New Hampshire GOP primary first.

"The Democratic National Committee failed in trying to stop New Hampshire," said Jim Splaine, a former New Hampshire lawmaker who wrote the law requiring the state to hold its primary before other state. Supporters of the law say no state does a better job at vetting presidential candidates with months of small gatherings and town hall meetings.

The primary also pumps hundreds of millions of dollars into the state economy. Speaking Wednesday in Concord, Splain said New Hampshire's long primary tradition gives presidential candidates a chance to meet voters "one-on-one, face-to-face, eye-to-eye throughout the state."

Under the DNC's new primary schedule, South Carolina will hold the first primary (after the Iowa Caucuses), then New Hampshire and Nevada would vote on the same day, followed by Georgia and then Michigan. For defying its plan, the DNC could punish New Hampshire by refusing to seat its delegates at the Democratic convention next summer.

According to state officials, there will be 21 names on the Democratic ballot in New Hampshire and 24 on the Republican ballot. Biden did not register for the primary because of the party's plan to put South Carolina first. So, state Democrats are organizing a write-in campaign for the president.

"It was Joe Biden's decision to make South Carolina first," Antjuan Seawright, a political strategist in South Carolina, told WBUR recently. "To buck that shows not only disrespect to Black voters — the most loyal and dedicated voter block in a generation — but also to the process."