Did 2022 and 2024 politics play a role in Biden's infrastructure trip to New Hampshire?

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Biden inks infrastructure deal amid slumping polls

MANCHESTER, N.H. – There are bridges in all 50 states.

But President Biden chose New Hampshire – a key 2022 midterm election battleground and the state that for a century has held the first primary in the presidential nominating calendar – as his first stop to sell the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure measure that he signed into law on Monday.

The president on Tuesday will visit NH 175 bridge, which spans the Pemigewasset River in the White Mountains in the northern part of the state. The structure for the past eight years has been on New Hampshire’s "red list" of bridges in poor condition. 

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The White House says the president "will deliver remarks on how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law repairs and rebuilds the nation's roads and bridges while strengthening resilience to climate change and creating good-paying, union jobs."

President Biden talks to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after signing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act at the White House on Nov. 15, 2021. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

But Democratic strategists say that campaign politics both in the 2022 midterms and the 2024 White House race are considerations in the president’s itinerary.

"There's no decision that the White House makes about where to send the president that doesn't have some sort of political consideration. They're not choosing these places by accident, ever," a Democratic strategist with ties to Biden world told Fox News.

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But the strategist pointed to next year’s midterms, rather than the 2024 White House race, as the main political motivator for heading to the Granite State the day after the president signed the measure, the largest investment in the nation's crumbling roads and bridges in decades.

"I would be more inclined to say that this trip would have more 2022 motivations rather than 2024. I don’t think that’s where people’s heads are right now," the strategist, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, said.

New Hampshire will be right in the middle of the action as Democrats hope to hold onto their razor-thin majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate in next year’s midterms. Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan is up for reelection in a crucial race that could determine the balance of power in the chamber. While Republicans lost their top recruit when GOP Gov. Chris Sununu announced last week he would run for reelection rather than challenge the senator, the GOP still views Hassan as vulnerable. 

And Republicans are confident they can flip from blue to red New Hampshire’s First Congressional District, a perennial top House battleground. Hassan and the rest of New Hampshire’s all-Democrat congressional delegation were at the White House for Monday’s bill signing ceremony and were scheduled to fly to the Granite State on board Air Force One and join Biden at the event in North Woodstock, New Hampshire.

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A longtime Democratic consultant told Fox News that "with the Republicans now scrambling to find someone to run for the U.S. Senate, it's an opportune time for the administration and Sen. Hassan to talk policy and accomplishments."

But the consultant, a veteran of numerous presidential campaigns, also emphasized that "anytime someone comes to New Hampshire, it has implications for the next presidential election. Starting off this tour in New Hampshire, I think, says that Biden has every plan of running for reelection. So all this chatter that's out there, this is factored into trying to tone that down, that at least at this point in time the plan is to run again. That's part of why he's coming to New Hampshire."

This is Biden's first trip as president to either Iowa or New Hampshire, the first two states in the presidential primary and caucus calendar. 

Joe Biden campaigns in Hampton, New Hampshire, on Feb. 9, 2020, days ahead of the state's first-in-the-nation presidential primary. (Fox News )

And it’s Biden’s first stop back in New Hampshire since he left the state before the polls closed during the state’s 2020 Democratic presidential primary. Biden finished a disappointing fifth in the New Hampshire primary, before rebounding with a second-place finish in the Nevada caucuses and a landslide victory in the South Carolina primary ahead of a string of wins three days later in the coast to coast Super Tuesday contests. Biden locked up the Democratic presidential nomination a month later.

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There’s been plenty of chatter and speculation in recent weeks whether the president will run for reelection in 2024. Biden, who turns 79 this weekend, made history last November when he became the oldest person ever elected president. If he campaigns for reelection in 2024 and wins, Biden would be 82 at his second inaugural and 86 at the end of his second term.

Asked in March at the first formal news conference of his presidency about his 2024 plans, Biden said, "My answer is yes. I plan on running for reelection. That’s my expectation."

The president’s expected to greet Granite State friends and supporters at the airport in Manchester, New Hampshire, late on Tuesday afternoon before he flies back to the nation’s capital. A longtime New Hampshire Democrat, who will be among those meeting with the president, told Fox News, "I think it’s a goodwill trip to New Hampshire. He’s got a lot of friends in this state, people he’s known over the years."

But White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the top mission of the trip is to spotlight the benefits of the infrastructure package – which includes more than $500 billion in new spending for "core" infrastructure projects such as transportation, broadband internet and electric utilities over the next eight years. The most recent public opinion polls indicate that a majority of Americans support the package.

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"The president is going there because there is a broken-down bridge that needs to be repaired," Psaki said on Monday. "It's an opportunity to highlight how this infrastructure bill can help communities, help people who are taking their kids to school, help people who are holding their breath as they're going across bridges worrying about the safety and security of how they're traveling, to do exactly that."

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Psaki added that the president will "highlight this bridge that is decrepit and needs to be rebuilt, and show people visually what the impact will be so they can understand how it will help impact their lives."

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New Hampshire-based Democratic consultant Lucas Meyer noted the Granite State's issue with red-listed bridges and that "despite being a relatively modern, wealthy northeast state, New Hampshire still can't guarantee broadband and internet access for all of its citizens."

"To come up to New Hampshire and go up to the northern rural part of the state where these investments are going to make a very real impact is a smart decision," Meyer emphasized.

Fox News' Ian Bishop, Kristina Biddle and Kelly Chernenkoff contributed to this report