Politics
New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner is retiring after years spent defending the state’s place in the presidential calendar.
New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner answers questions during a news conference Aug. 9, 2007 at the State House in Concord, N.H. | Jim Cole, File/AP Photo
By ZACH MONTELLARO and DAVID SIDERS
01/03/2022 05:31 PM EST
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Bill Gardner is leaving, but New Hampshire isn’t going to be any less militant about protecting its legendary perch in presidential politics.
Gardner has for several decades served as the chief defender of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation role at the top of the presidential primary calendar. Gardner, a Democrat, announced on Monday that he would soon be stepping down as the state’s secretary of state, a role he has held since 1976.
He has sometimes gone to extreme lengths to defend the small Northeastern state’s role as presidential kingmaker — something Gardner has said he viewed as one of his main responsibilities, with state law giving the secretary of state authority to set the primary date and thwart other states’ efforts to jump the line.
