Biden, Trump critics file for N.H. primary

State’s nominating contest still first-in-nation

CONCORD, N.H. — In a ritual unruffled by either a changing of the guard or changes to the nominating calendar 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 longtime elections chief Bill Gardner. But his successor, David Scanlan, is carrying on the tradition of ensuring New Hampshire remains first, waiting for the dust to settle in other states before scheduling the 2024 contest.

“I’m really in no hurry,” he said in an interview Tuesday.

In contrast, the candidates themselves — particularly the long shots — often are in a race to sign up first in hopes that a bit of media attention will boost their campaigns.

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.

“This is a choice for no Joe Biden,” he said before entering the Statehouse to file.

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’s ballot. Scanlan disagrees and has said he will allow Trump to file.

Castro, from Texas, said he is unlikely to campaign beyond signing up.

“I’m not going to lie and pretend my candidacy is anything more than trying to enforce the U.S. Constitution, and that’s what I’m here to do,” he said.

The candidates have until Oct. 27 to sign up, and dozens are expected to do so in part because it’s relatively cheap and easy.

The first nationally recognized candidate to file on Wednesday was former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican who has languished in the polls but said he expects many New Hampshire voters to make up their minds late.