CONCORD, N.H. (AP) 鈥� In a ritual unruffled by either a changing of the guard or elsewhere, the filing period for the New Hampshire presidential primary started Wednesday with a Democratic candidate who criticized President Joe Biden and paid a chunk of his filing fee in $2 bills.
For the first time in more than four decades, candidates are filing paperwork with a new secretary of state thanks to the retirement last year of . But his successor, David Scanlan, is carrying on the tradition of ensuring New Hampshire remains first, waiting for the dust to settle before scheduling the 2024 contest.
鈥淚鈥檓 really in no hurry,鈥� he said in an interview Tuesday.
In contrast, the candidates themselves 鈥� particularly the long shots 鈥� often are in a race to sign up first in hopes that a bit of media attention will boost their campaigns. In 1991, a writer from New York drove 11 hours in a snowstorm only to find another perennial candidate waiting at the door. , a Minnesota fugitive living in Italy sent a package by courier that arrived just before an ex-convict embarked on a 90-minute rant that included five costume changes.
This year, the first to sign up was Mark Stewart Greenstein, who arrived at the Statehouse at 6:30 a.m. and paid his $1,000 filing fee in cash, including $400 in $2 bills. Greenstein, from West Hartford, Connecticut, also was the first to sign up four years ago. He said he plans to be on the ballot in five states. This is his fourth run in New Hampshire, where he got 31 votes in 2020.
鈥淭his is a choice for no Joe Biden,鈥� he said before entering the Statehouse to file. 鈥淭here should be a way for Democrats to express that they don鈥檛 like their front-runner. I鈥檓 not his replacement. I鈥檓 not going to be around next November. But you can say as a voter, 鈥業鈥檓 a voter who is dissatisfied.鈥欌��
Greenstein was followed by Republican John Anthony Castro, who has filed lawsuits in New Hampshire and other states contending the 14th Amendment prohibits former President Donald Trump from appearing on that state鈥檚 ballot. Scanlan disagrees and has said he .
prohibits those who against the Constitution from holding higher office. It has been used only a couple of times since Congress rescinded the measure鈥檚 ban on former Confederates in 1872, but it received renewed attention after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by who were seeking to to keep Biden out of the White House after he defeated Trump. Trump says he did nothing wrong.
Castro, from Texas, said he is unlikely to campaign beyond signing up.
鈥淚鈥檓 not going to lie and pretend my candidacy is anything more than trying to enforce the United States Constitution, and that鈥檚 what I鈥檓 here to do,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to distract anything from the mission. The fight鈥檚 going to be in the courtroom. I鈥檓 going to do my best to try to get people to see the light. But at the end of the day, I don鈥檛 need the people to see the light, I need the courts to see the light.鈥�
The candidates have until Oct. 27 to sign up, and dozens are expected to do so in part because it鈥檚 relatively cheap and easy. They need only meet the basic requirements to be president, fill out a one-page form and pay the filing fee.
The first nationally recognized candidate to file on Wednesday was former Arkansas Gov. , a Republican who has languished in the polls but said he expects many New Hampshire voters to make up their minds late. He criticized a gathering being held in Utah where Sen. Mitt Romney urged his longtime financial backers to help narrow to one person to challenge Trump.
鈥淟et me tell you, I鈥檓 glad on that same day to be here in New Hampshire filing for president and trusting the New Hampshire voters to make the decision,鈥� Hutchinson said. "We should not allow mega-donors to narrow this field and say, 鈥榃e鈥檙e going to select the next president of the United States.鈥� It should be the voters that鈥檚 going to make that determination. And we鈥檙e not going to bypass them. We鈥檙e going to take the campaign directly to them.鈥�
In 2020, 33 Democrats and 17 Republicans signed up. The all-time high was 1992, when 61 people got on the ballot. But this cycle could be notable instead for whose name isn鈥檛 on the ballot.
New Hampshire, with its state law requiring its primaries to be held first, is defying the Democratic National Committee鈥檚 new primary calendar which calls for 麻豆传媒AV Carolina to kick off voting on Feb. 3, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada. The shakeup came at the request of President Joe Biden in a bid to empower Black and other minority voters crucial to the party鈥檚 base.
Biden鈥檚 campaign won鈥檛 comment on whether he will be on the ballot in New Hampshire. But he wouldn鈥檛 be the first reelection-seeking incumbent missing from the primary ballot: President Lyndon Johnson won the 1968 Democratic primary as a write-in, though a shockingly strong-second place showing by Sen. Eugene McCarthy helped push him out of the race.
Scanlan, who served as , said he was excited to welcome the new crop of candidates candidates. Like his predecessor, he plans to greet them with a few encouraging words, but don鈥檛 expect the obscure trivia Gardner often added.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 have any history lessons planned,鈥� Scanlan said. 鈥淭hat was Bill鈥檚 style, and he was really, really good at it.鈥�
Holly Ramer, The Associated Press
