President Biden will not participate in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire Democratic Primary.

In a letter to the Granite State’s liberal party leaders, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the 46th president’s campaign manager, said that “while the president wishes to participate in the primary, he is obligated to comply” with the wishes of the national party, which has decided to allow South Carolina to hold the first nominating contest.

“The president looks forward to having his name on New Hampshire’s general election ballot as the nominee of the Democratic Party after officially securing the nomination at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, where he will tirelessly campaign to earn every single vote in the Granite State next November,” Rodriguez wrote to NHDP Chairman Ray Buckley.

Biden’s decision comes as no surprise to party insiders, who knew for months that a state law requiring New Hampshire to hold the first primaries would stand in the way of the Democratic National Committee’s proposed schedule change.

The DNC warned New Hampshire that if they held their primary first they might face sanctions, and potentially see their delegates rejected at the party’s national convention. New Hampshire Democrats, who are not in control of the state government and cannot change the law, have maintained that their hands are tied and they must hold the nation’s first Democratic primary.

According to Buckley, even if his name isn’t officially listed on the ballot, a write-in campaign could be enough to get the president over the finish line.

“The reality is that Joe Biden will win the New Hampshire First-in-the-Nation Primary in January, win re-nomination in Chicago and will be re-elected next November. New Hampshire voters know and trust Joe Biden, that’s why he is leading Trump in New Hampshire by double digits,” Buckley said in a statement.

According to the Secretary of State’s office, without Biden — and after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared he would run as an independent — the Democratic ticket in New Hampshire features author Marianne Williamson and nine other comparatively unknown candidates. Williamson, who ran for the party nod in 2020, filed her nomination paperwork on October 12.

“The truth of the matter is that even though the DNC can take delegates from me, it cannot take from New Hampshire the significance of this primary,” Williamson said, according to WMUR.

The Republican ticket could feature 20 names. The filing deadline for major party candidates running in the New Hampshire primary is October 27.

Herald wire services contributed.