One of the biggest Catholic advocacy groups in the country has endorsed former President Donald Trump as the New Hampshire primary has begun.
According to Fox News, CatholicVote has endorsed Trump for president. Also, in Tuesday’s presidential primary, CatholicVote urges about 137,000 Catholic voters in New Hampshire to support Trump.
Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, spoke with Fox News and said the organization has “remained neutral” throughout the primary until this point because they believed there were “several viable and compelling candidates in the race.”
“But the number of candidates has dramatically winnowed over the last week, and we are now in a two-person race. And we think at this point it is important that Catholics start to rally around President Trump. Not only would he be a far better choice than Nikki Haley, but he is the choice that Americans need in November. And Catholics… will play a critical role in this election, and the fate of our Catholic way of life is really at stake in this election,” Burch said.
Burch denied that endorsing Trump was “some big gamble,” claiming that the American people “watched him” for four years and praising the Obama administration’s track record of appointees to prominent federal courts.
Burch went on to praise Trump’s “courage” and the “kinds of people” he “surrounded himself with.”
“And I think we came to realize that, of all the virtues necessary [to be president], courage is essential. Many candidates come and go and check boxes on certain policies and issues, especially during the campaign. But what separated President Trump, I think, from a lot of leaders was his courage to do the right thing, no matter what the consequences might be.”
CatholicVote will get in touch with about 137,000 Catholic voters in New Hampshire via email and text message to get them to support Trump.
“Don’t let the media decide this election,” it continues. “President Trump needs your vote today!”
The endorsement of Trump by CatholicVote arrives just hours before the first-in-the-nation presidential primary election in New Hampshire, giving the Granite State a political boost.
In the Republican primary, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis withdrew his support on Sunday, leaving just two prominent candidates—Trump and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley—standing.
But going into Tuesday, Biden finds himself in a particularly sticky situation.
As a result of the heated dispute between his campaign and New Hampshire over the site of the first Democratic primary, the president will not be appearing on the ballot in that state.
As a result, Biden must now launch a write-in campaign in the hopes of capturing the race.
All six registered voters in a tiny town in northern New Hampshire cast ballots for former U.S. UN ambassador Nikki Haley in Tuesday’s primary, making it the only Granite State region to participate in the midnight voting tradition.
The six residents of Dixville Notch continued a practice that had begun with the 1960 election by casting their ballots after the polls opened at midnight, Fox News noted.
For some reason, two of the other towns that normally cast the first ballots in the state opted not to hold their midnight elections this year. Voting for the primary will instead take place during the day at Hart’s Location and Millsfield.
Just days before the New Hampshire primary, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis endorsed Trump and withdrew from the Republican presidential race in 2024.
“If there were anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome—more campaign stops, more interviews—I would do it. But I can’t ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don’t have a clear path to victory. Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign,” said DeSantis, who was a distant third in the single digits in the latest polls in New Hampshire.
“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance. They watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance, and they see Democrats using lawfare this day to attack him. I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee, and I will honor that pledge,” DeSantis added.
