Concord, N.H.— Former president Donald Trump won New Hampshire’s primary on Tuesday, chalking up a victory in the moderate state that many saw as possibly the last big hurdle on his path to become the Republican nominee for the third consecutive presidential cycle.
As of 8 p.m., Trump was winning with 54.1 percent of the vote to Nikki Haley’s 45 percent, and 17 percent of the vote counted. The Associated Press called the race for Trump just after 8 p.m., just after the last precincts closed.
With so much of the vote still to be counted, it’s unclear how close it will end up.
Haley spoke to her supporters early, at about 8:20 p.m., and congratulated Trump saying that he “earned it, and I want to acknowledge that.”
Haley said that while she lost, she had won “close to half the vote” and she’s rising in polls. The political class, she said, is “falling all over themselves saying this race is over.
“I have news for them. New Hampshire is first in the nation. It is not last in the nation,” she said. “This race is far from over.”
Haley, who finished a distant third place to Trump in last week’s Iowa caucuses, pinned her hopes on a strong showing in New Hampshire to propel her into a showdown with the former president next month in South Carolina, her home state. She believed that by being the last major Trump alternative standing, she could assemble a winning coalition in New Hampshire, where unaffiliated voters could cast ballot in the primary.
On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden is facing off as a write-in candidate against Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips, who is running a long-shot campaign against the 81-year-old president. Worried about Biden’s age, Phillips contends that “the country would be well served by a new generation of compelling, well-prepared, dynamic” Democrats.
New Hampshire primary isn’t officially recognized by the Democratic National Committee, and Biden’s name wasn’t on the ballot. His supporters waged a write-in campaign.
Exit polls found that Tuesday’s electorate was closely divided between registered Republicans and voters who have not declared a party affiliation. On Truth Social, Trump called it “SO RIDICULOUS” that non-Republicans are allowed to participate in the Republican primary, “ESPECIALLY SINCE CROOKED JOE BIDEN HAS ABANDONED NEW HAMPSHIRE.”
The exit polls also found that the vast majority of Haley’s voters said Trump would not be fit to be president if he is convicted of a crime in one of his ongoing legal cases.
Eric Jostrom, a Haley supporter from Sugar Hill, N.H., told National Review that at her election night party that he “would like to see her get 40 percent or more of the vote. I think that’s a good number shoot for.”
Haley’s attempt to take Trump down in New Hampshire always appeared to be a long shot. The most recent Real Clear Politics average of polls showed Trump winning support from 55.8 percent of Granite State voters to Haley’s 36.5 percent. The polling still showed 8 percent support for Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who dropped out over the weekend and endorsed Trump. Even if all his support went to Haley, she still would have been behind.
The final Globe/Suffolk/NBC10 tracking poll released on Tuesday showed Trump with 60 percent support in New Hampshire to Haley’s 38 percent.
After the Iowa caucuses, Haley called her campaign “the last best hope of stopping the Trump-Biden nightmare.” In New Hampshire this week, she sold herself as the real outsider in the race. It was Trump, not her, “who’s got the entire political elite all around him,” she said.
On Sunday, Haley received the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper’s endorsement.
Still, the political winds seemed to be against her. Politico on Tuesday described Haley’s campaign events in New Hampshire as “modest” and “listless.”
In recent days and weeks, many of Trump’s most prominent former political foes — DeSantis, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, North Dakota governor Doug Burgum — fell in line to support the former president. Haley’s fellow South Carolinians, Senator Tim Scott and Representative Nancy Mace, whom she had supported in the past, have also thrown their support to Trump.
Even some of Haley’s supporters and volunteers in New Hampshire told National Review that even with DeSantis out they were doubtful that Haley could pull out a win.
Ahead of the vote, Haley’s team, including New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, tampered expectations. Sununu previously claimed that Haley could win the state, but over the weekend he said that wasn’t necessary for her to continue pursuing Trump into Super Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Haley’s campaign manager released a memo claiming that the “political class and the media want to give Donald Trump a coronation.” But, that “isn’t how this works,” it read.
While “members of Congress, the press, and many of the weak-kneed fellas who ran for president are giving up and giving in — we are not going anywhere,” the memo continued. “Nikki is the last hope to get our party and our country back on track. And we’re going to get the job done.”
Polls in South Carolina show it will be an uphill climb for Haley there. Real Clear Politics polling averages show Trump with 52 percent support in the Palmetto State to Haley’s 21.8 percent. The rest is divvied up among Republicans who have ended their campaigns.
While Trump remains popular among most Republicans, he is toxic to many moderates and independent voters. Democratic strategists aligned with President Joe Biden are Jonesing to run against Trump again, because they expect he’ll motivate the Democratic base to turn out.