Former President Donald Trump was victorious in the New Hampshire Republican primary Tuesday evening.
He won N.H.’s first-in-the-nation GOP primary, while President Joe Biden won the Democrat primary after skipping out on campaigning in the state and having to rely on write-in votes.
The victory by Trump in Iowa last week was by record margins in a historic landslide. Still, the more independent New Hampshire figured to be a better battlefield for former Governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley. It was, but the former president still managed a rare back-to-back victory in the first-in-the-nation caucus and primary.
The former president’s margin of victory is unclear this early, but he averaged over 55% support and held on to a double-digit lead over Nikki Haley.
Trump is the first GOP candidate to sweep competitive votes in New Hampshire and Iowa since 1976, when the two states solidified their status as the first nominating contests.
“Haley said she had to WIN in New Hampshire. SHE DIDN’T!!!” wrote Trump on Truth Social.
Trump’s huge Iowa victory demolished the rest of the field, while Haley came up short in her effort to carry some momentum on to her South Carolina home state next month.
The former president is expected to move forward to the February 8 caucus uncontested. Haley isn’t on the ballot there but is on the ballot for the state-run Nevada primary on February 6. However, no Republican delegates are up for grabs in that primary.
“New Hampshire is the first in the nation, it is not the last in the nation: This race is far from over,” said Haley in a speech quickly delivered following the closure of the polls and the calling of the race. “I’m a fighter. And I’m scrappy. And now, we’re the last one standing next to Donald Trump.”
During her speech, Trump appeared to respond via Truth Social, saying, “DELUSIONAL!!! SHE CAME IN THIRD LAST WEEK!”
Write-in campaign lifted Biden to victory in N.H.
On the Dems’ side, supporters of President Biden mounted a write-in campaign to avoid an N.H. loss, even though the contest doesn’t award delegates because it violates the national party rules he pressed for.
“Tonight’s results confirm Donald Trump has all but locked up the GOP nomination, and the election-denying, anti-freedom MAGA movement has completed its takeover of the Republican Party,” wrote the Biden campaign Tuesday evening.
The results are likely to increase calls from some in the GOP for Haley to drop out of the race, despite her campaign’s vow in a memo Tuesday to push on toward “Super Tuesday” in early March, when Republican voters in 15 states and one territory vote the same day.
The next Republican primary following Nevada is February 24 in South Carolina, where Nikki Haley was born and was elected governor for two terms. Despite her close ties, Trump has garnered endorsements from most of the state’s Republicans, and polls show him with a wide lead.
Haley finished third in the Iowa caucus, behind Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis while continuing to focus much of her early campaign on New Hampshire, where the electorate — considered more moderate — was predicted to offer her best chance of winning a state instead of Trump.
New Hampshire was the first electoral contest to feature a one-on-one matchup between Haley and Trump after DeSantis, once seen as Trump’s most prominent challenger, dropped out of the race Sunday and endorsed Trump.
