WASHINGTON, Jan 24, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - President Joe Biden won New Hampshire's unofficial Democratic primary on Tuesday, despite not even appearing on the ballot.

After Biden and the Democratic Party scrapped New Hampshire's role hosting the traditional first-in-the-nation primary, following the Iowa caucuses, it is Democrats in South Carolina who will officially hold the first vote, on February 3.

But New Hampshire -- whose motto is "Live Free or Die" -- chose to buck the national party's directive and continue with its poll anyway.

As a result, no delegates will be awarded from the vote, rendering it merely symbolic in the overall nomination process.

Still, a last-second write-in campaign was launched by Biden supporters to prevent two would-be challengers from swooping in unopposed to claim a meaningless but still embarrassing win.

The two relatively minor figures, Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson, stand next to no chance of hurting Biden, whatever they try: no primary challenger has ever taken the nomination from an incumbent president in the modern political era.

Biden has history in New Hampshire. He lost badly in the overwhelmingly white state in his bid for the Democratic nomination in 2020 and was only rescued by strong support from African Americans in the South Carolina primary.

Once elected, he effectively dethroned New Hampshire, along with fellow early nominating state Iowa, instructing the party leadership to place South Carolina ahead of both.

Iowa caved quietly but the move angered Democrats in New Hampshire, where first-in-the-nation status is a long tradition.

On the Republican side, New Hampshire was seen as a key test for whether Donald Trump would maintain his grip on the Republican Party, despite his four separate criminal indictments.

He passed with flying colors, sweeping the northeastern state from his only serious remaining Republican challenger, former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor Nikki Haley -- who nonetheless pledged that the race was "far from over."