After his failed attempt to kill the First in the Nation presidential primary, President Joe Biden wants Granite Staters to know he’s coming to New Hampshire to deliver a message about how much he cares about the state.
He just doesn’t want them to know where.
As of late Sunday night, the location of Biden’s campaign visit on Monday — his first in the state since refusing to allow his name to appear on the New Hampshire ballot — had not been disclosed to the general public.
“On Monday, March 11, the president will travel to Manchester, New Hampshire. The president will deliver remarks on lowering costs for American families. Later, the president will participate in a campaign event,” the White House said in a statement. It did not respond to requests for more details.
Biden’s visit comes as his campaign adds New Hampshire to its list of “swing states” it’s targeting in November, The Washington Post reports. Since 1998, Republicans have only carried New Hampshire’s four Electoral College votes once (George W. Bush in 2000). Biden easily won the state by eight points in 2020.
However, Donald Trump came within 2,800 votes of beating Hillary Clinton here in 2016.
Biden hasn’t been to New Hampshire since April 2022, when he made an appearance in Portsmouth touting infrastructure spending, including dredging and widening the Piscataqua River turning basin. Unfortunately for Biden, that project was actually paid for by President Trump.
Biden’s Portsmouth visit came just days after he announced his administration was ending Title 42, a COVID-era rule that had slowed the flow of undocumented migrants at the southern border. In the two years since Biden ended the policy, border crossings have surged, setting all-time records. Both Sen. Maggie Hassan and Rep. Chris Pappas publicly opposed Biden’s decision to end the Title 42 immigration restrictions at the time.
Polls show immigration is an even higher priority for voters today than it was two years ago, and the New Hampshire GOP plans to call out Biden’s record during an event on Monday.
“After ignoring New Hampshire’s First in the Nation primary, the ‘elderly man with a poor memory’ finally found his way to New Hampshire to spread his disinformation on Bidenomics and the border,” said state GOP chair Chris Ager. The state GOP is holding a press conference Monday morning in Manchester to talk about Biden’s border policy and the continued problem of inflation.
Some local business owners and the GOP candidates in the two congressional races are expected to attend.
Biden says he “inherited an economy on the brink,” but in fact, in the first quarter of 2021 (when Biden was sworn in), the economy was growing at a rate of 6.3 percent, and inflation was 1.4 percent. Over the past year, GDP has grown by just 3 percent and inflation was more than twice as high (3.4 percent) as when Biden took office.
If the presidential race in New Hampshire is close this November, political experts say it will be because moderate and independent voters like those who backed Nikki Haley chose not to support Biden and either stayed home or voted for Trump.
One Republican who won’t be crossing the aisle to back Biden is New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who reiterated over the weekend that, whatever his complaints about Trump, he’s still backing his party’s nominee.
“I mean, the alternative is Biden, and I think folks are seeing a lack of management, a lack of understanding of what’s happening with immigration, a lack of fiscal responsibility,” Sununu told WMUR’s Adam Sexton.
And that makes Biden’s State of the Union speech strategy even more puzzling. His speech, called “the most partisan in history” by at least one former White House speechwriter, targeting his party’s base and attacked his Republican opponents, rather than reaching out to swing voters with a message of bipartisanship and unity.
The Wall Street Journal editorialized, “There was nothing here for Nikki Haley voters or Republicans who don’t want a second Trump term and might consider voting for Mr. Biden.”
According to CNN, the response to Biden’s speech from the viewers was the worst of any State of the Union this century.
During the address, Biden referred to the alleged murderer of 22-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley as an “illegal.” Over the weekend, Biden apologized for using the term.
“I shouldn’t have used ‘illegal,’ it’s ‘undocumented,’” he told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart.
“I’m not going to treat any of these people with disrespect. They built this country,” Biden added.
Expect New Hampshire Republicans to call Biden out over that comment as well.
