Biden won't face any competition in NC's 2024 Democratic primary, state election officials confirm

President Joe Biden will be the only Democratic candidate for president in North Carolina's 2024 primary elections.

The state's top elections officials confirmed that decision Tuesday in a 5-0 vote, shooting down potential Democratic challengers Dean Phillips, Marianne Williamson and Cenk Uygur.

"In order to get on the ballot, you need to have donors in the state and be actively campaigning in the state," he told WRAL last month, adding that the rule is "the standard that we have used in all previous cycles."

Phillips, a Minnesota congressman; Williamson, a self-help author; and Uygur, a progressive podcaster, are all running for the Democratic Party nomination against Biden. But the state Democratic Party declined to recommend any of their names for the primary election ballot, and none of them formally petitioned to be added to the ballot — a process in North Carolina that requires getting 10,000 signatures to show support.

The State Board of Elections has the authority to override a political party's request and add more names to the ballot for the primaries. However, none of the board's Republican or Democratic members showed an appetite for that on Tuesday.

"I'm very sympathetic to the thought that these are party primaries, and parties should be able to nominate the candidates of their choosing," said Kevin Lewis, one of the election board's two Republican members.

In addition to shooting down Phillips, Williamson and Uygur, the board also rejected the request of Luis Lavin to run in the Democratic primary, since he's not a registered Democrat. The board also declined a request to put former presidential candidate Jill Stein's name on the ballot for the Green Party; the state branch of the Green Party requested not to have a primary election this year.

Should Trump be banned from ballot in North Carolina? State courts could soon decide

Several other states have taken up the controversial question of Trump's eligibility, reaching different conclusions.

Maine and Colorado have found that Trump's actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress — an attempt by Trump supporters to keep him in office despite losing the 2020 election — was enough to disqualify him from being president again. Michigan and California officials have reached the opposite conclusion, letting Trump run in their states' primaries.

When North Carolina's election board similarly allowed Trump to run in this state's GOP primary, in a 4-1 vote last month, some board members said they believed they lacked the power to strike any primary candidates nominated by their political parties.

But that left open the possibility for the board to revisit the decision and ban Trump from running in the general election if he wins the Republican primary.

New effort to keep Trump off ballots has roots in North Carolina and Jan. 6 attack