NH Presidential Primary
By state law – and helped along by national party rules – every four years New Hampshire holds the first presidential primary in the United States. The most recent first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary took place in 2024.
What is a presidential primary?
In the United States, the Democratic and Republican parties choose their nominees for president through a system of state primaries and caucuses.
In a primary, voters from each party choose their favorite candidates on a ballot. Different states have different rules for who may appear on the ballot and who may vote in the primary.
The Democratic and Republican parties give each state a certain number of delegates to appear at the national party conventions. Very generally speaking, delegates at a convention vote for the candidates who won the most primary votes in their home states.
The candidate with the most delegate votes at the national party convention wins that party’s nomination for president.
What about caucuses?
Some states use caucuses instead of primaries to choose their favorite candidates for president. Party members must show up to caucus sites at a specific time. They gather in groups for each candidate and ultimately elect delegates. Those delegates may go on to caucuses at the county or state level and repeat the process, finally choosing delegates for the national Democratic and Republican party conventions.
Iowa holds the first presidential caucuses in the United States, typically a week before the New Hampshire primary.
How the NH presidential primary works
Candidate filing
In the Granite State, presidential candidates must file with the New Hampshire secretary of state the November before the primary and pay a $1,000 fee.
A presidential candidate must be “a natural born citizen,” at least 35 years old, and a resident of the United States for at least 14 years. The candidate must also be a registered member of either the Democratic or Republican party.
If someone believes a candidate does not meet one or more of these qualifications, they can file a complaint with the state Ballot Law Commission. That commission may rule a candidate cannot appear on the presidential primary ballot.
Setting the primary date
State law requires New Hampshire to hold its presidential primary the second Tuesday in March, or at least seven days before any other state’s presidential primary — whichever is earlier. The New Hampshire secretary of state has the power to select the day of the primary.
The earliest ever presidential primary was January 8, 2008.
Voting in the primary
In New Hampshire, registered Republicans can only vote in the Republican presidential primary, and registered Democrats can only vote in the Democratic presidential primary. However, New Hampshire allows undeclared voters to register as Democrats or Republicans and vote accordingly on the day of the primary. Those voters can then swap back to undeclared on their way out of the polls.
After the primary
New Hampshire sends delegates to the party conventions proportionally — each candidate gets to select a share of delegates based on the percentage of votes they earned in the primary.
History of the NH presidential primary
The public in New Hampshire and other states did not always get to vote for presidential nominees. Instead, party officials chose the major candidates for president without public input.
- In 1916 New Hampshire held its first statewide presidential primary. However, the presidential candidates themselves did not appear on the ballot. Instead, voters elected delegates for the national party conventions. Some of those delegates pledged to vote for certain presidential candidates; other delegates did not.
- In 1920 New Hampshire repeated the process. That year New Hampshire held its presidential primary before all other states, establishing the tradition of being first in the nation.
- In 1948 New Hampshire passed a law that placed the name of presidential candidates, rather than delegates, on the primary ballot.
- In 1979 New Hampshire passed a law that required the presidential primary take place before all other states. This added legal force to New Hampshire’s traditional spot in the primary schedule.
- In 1999 New Hampshire passed a law giving the secretary of state the power to set the primary date as early as needed to stay before other states.
Impact of the NH presidential primary
The Democratic and Republican parties give New Hampshire a very small number of delegates to the national party conventions, but the media focus on New Hampshire means the first-in-the-nation primary has a big impact. A surprising win or loss in New Hampshire can make or break a presidential candidate.
For example, in 1992 a surprisingly strong second place finish in New Hampshire helped then-Governor Bill Clinton recover from damaging news about marital infidelity.
In 2008 Senator John McCain took the wind out of Mitt Romney’s sails by claiming victory over the Massachusetts governor in the New Hampshire primary.
According to at least one statistical analysis, winning the New Hampshire primary increases a candidate’s share of the primary vote in all states by 27%.
However, winning the New Hampshire primary doesn’t guarantee national victory. In a recent example, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders beat Hillary Clinton by 22% in the 2016 New Hampshire primary, but lost the national nomination.
The Internet and mass media also make it less necessary for candidates to interact with New Hampshire voters in person. For example, Donald Trump visited New Hampshire far less than other Republican candidates in 2016, but he still won the New Hampshire primary with a large margin.
The role of national parties
The national Democratic and Republican parties have rules that help protect New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation status. Generally speaking, states that schedule a primary before the first Tuesday in March (known as “Super Tuesday”) lose delegates to the national convention. However, New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada, and South Carolina are exempted from that rule.
Recent challenges
Over the years several states have tried to move their primaries and caucuses into the early days reserved for New Hampshire and Iowa. Most recently, the Democratic Party has adopted Pres. Biden's plan to overhaul the primary order to better reflect the diversity of the party's voter base. This would have South Carolina's Democratic primary go first, but, as noted earlier in this article, New Hampshire law requires the Granite State remain the "first in the nation" primary. The Democratic Party may penalize New Hampshire by taking away its delegates to the national convention.
“New Hampshire should keep the first-in-the-nation presidential primary.”
- Because New Hampshire is a small state, it levels the playing field between well-funded and lesser known candidates. Through local campaigning, every candidate has a roughly equal opportunity to make themselves known to New Hampshire voters beyond thirty-second messages in mass media.
- Unlike other states that have an overwhelming interest in one industry, such as mining, agriculture, or technology development, New Hampshire has a diverse economy. This discourages candidates from pledging themselves to represent one economic interest over another.
- New Hampshire voters are more civically engaged than the population in other states, with consistently high voter turnout.
- When New Hampshire’s uniquely engaged electorate puts candidates to the test, voters across the nation are able to observe the results in real time, giving them a valuable perspective when the time comes for them to cast their ballots.
Adapted from a 2011 op-ed by former U.S. Senator John E. Sununu.
“New Hampshire should not have the first-in-the-nation presidential primary.”
- Studies estimate that the average New Hampshire voter wields as much influence as five Super Tuesday voters. The demographics of New Hampshire do not match those of the nation as a whole. White non-Hispanics make up 63.7 of the U.S. population, but a whopping 92.3 percent of the population in New Hampshire. New Hampshire families are also more likely to speak English, or have been born in the U.S., or live in rural areas than the rest of the population. By putting New Hampshire first, parties give disproportionate influence to a small group of mostly white, rural voters, and effectively disenfranchise minority voters.
- New Hampshire’s primary voter turnout might be high compared to that of other state primaries, but it’s still generally lower than voter turnout in general elections. That undermines the case that New Hampshire voters are exceptionally engaged and therefore deserve their outsized influence.
- Supporters of the New Hampshire primary argue the state’s small size gives underdog campaigns more opportunity to take off, since campaigning in New Hampshire is less expensive than mounting a nationwide effort. However, this doesn’t justify why New Hampshire in particular should be the small state with that privilege. Why not a state with more diversity, or a rotation of small first-in-the-nation locations?
- Polls indicate that most Americans aren’t happy with New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation monopoly. Over 70% of Americans would support alternating who goes first and nearly 75% like the idea of a nation-wide primary.
Adapted from “I’m from New Hampshire, and the New Hampshire primary has to go” by Dylan Matthews.
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