ROCHESTER, New Hampshire — Former Vice President Joe Biden announced Tuesday morning, in the midst of voting in the New Hampshire primary, that he is leaving the state, skipping his “victory” party.

Instead, Biden said, he would go on to campaign in South Carolina, where he hopes to win the state.

NEW: @ArletteSaenz & @sarahmucha report that @JoeBiden will now spend New Hampshire Primary night in South Carolina. He is already moving on… — Ryan Nobles (@ryanobles) February 11, 2020

Biden once led the polls in New Hampshire, but lost his lead several months ago. He now trails Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT); former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) in the latest polls. He is battling Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) for fourth place, and could even finish sixth if one of the second-tier campaigns takes advantage of his weakness to turn out their voters.

The former vice president signaled to supporters Friday that he did not expect to win — or even do well — in the state, when he declared during the Democrat debate that he expected to “take a hit” here. Making matters worse, on Sunday he called a voter at a town hall meeting a “lying, dog-faced pony soldier.”

Supporters believe he will do better in the more diverse states of Nevada and South Carolina. However, Biden did not want to face the spectacle of a crushing loss in New Hampshire in person. The victory party will still be held, but he will address supporters remotely, according to a campaign statement.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.