Donald Trump wins New Hampshire primary

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – Former President Donald Trump easily won the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, taking control of the race for the Republican nomination and setting himself up for a rematch with President Joe Biden in November. It became more and more inevitable.

The result was a setback for former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who finished in second place despite investing significant time and money in a state known for its independence movement. She became her last major challenger after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis abandoned his presidential bid over the weekend and was cleared to campaign as President Trump’s only alternative candidate. Ta.

Trump allies increased pressure on Haley to withdraw from the race before polls closed, but after the results were announced, Haley vowed to continue campaigning. She has stepped up her criticism of the former president to her supporters, questioned his mental strength and pitched herself as a unifying candidate to usher in generational change.

“This race isn’t over yet. There are still dozens of states left,” Haley said, while some in the crowd chanted, “It’s not over yet!”

Meanwhile, Trump can now boast of being the first Republican presidential candidate to win an open election in Iowa and New Hampshire since 1976, when the states began leading the electoral calendar. is a striking sign of how quickly the Republican Party is rallying around Mr. Trump to make him the nominee. 3 times in a row.

Haley did especially well in the most conservative areas of the state, but Haley won in more liberal parts. The only areas where Haley had a lead over Trump early in her return were Democratic-leaning cities and towns like Concord, Keene and Portsmouth.

Trump’s easy wins in both early states demonstrate his ability to unite factions of the Republican Party firmly behind him. But according to AP VoteCast, a survey of New Hampshire voters, about half of New Hampshire Republican primary voters are either very or somewhat concerned that Trump is too extreme to win the general election. He said he was doing so. Only a third say the same about Haley.

Pat Sheridan, 63, an engineer from Hampton, voted for Trump “because he did a really good job the first time.”

“We need businessmen, not bureaucrats,” Sheridan said.

Haley’s path to becoming the standard-bearer of the Republican Party is rapidly narrowing. She will avoid the Feb. 8 Nevada caucuses, which are widely seen as favoring Trump, and will not enter a contest to recognize delegates until the Feb. 24 South Carolina primary.

Haley, a former South Carolina governor, hopes a strong showing in South Carolina will help her qualify for the March 5 Super Tuesday election. But such ambitions could be difficult to realize in deeply conservative states where President Trump is extremely popular, and losing his home base could be a politically devastating blow. be.

“This is just the beginning; we’ve got the rest of the country,” said Sandy Adams, 66, an independent from Bow who supported Ms. Haley. “I think there are strong candidates, but it’s great that for the first time there are only two candidates.”

On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden won the party’s primary, but it had to be done through a written effort. The Democratic National Committee voted to start a primary next month in South Carolina, but New Hampshire pressed ahead with its own campaign. Mr. Biden did not campaign or participate in the polls, but he outperformed a series of little-known challengers.

Given that Trump faces 91 criminal charges related to everything from overturning the 2020 presidential election to mishandling classified documents to sourcing payoffs for porn stars, The early victory was remarkable. He left the White House in 2021 in the tragic aftermath of the riot at the U.S. Capitol by his supporters who tried to block the certification of Biden’s victory. And Trump became the first president to be impeached twice.

Beyond the political vulnerabilities associated with the criminal case, Mr. Trump faces the logistical challenge of balancing court action and campaigning. He voluntarily entered a New York courtroom where a jury is considering whether to pay additional damages to the columnist who won a $5 million jury award against Trump last year for sexual abuse and defamation. Often appears in court. He turns these appearances into campaign events, holding televised press conferences and giving him the opportunity to spread his message to a large audience.

But Trump has turned this vulnerability into an advantage among Republican voters. He has argued that the criminal charges reflect the politicization of the Justice Department, but there is no evidence that Justice Department officials were pressured by Biden or anyone in the White House to file charges.

Trump has also repeatedly told his supporters that he is being prosecuted on their behalf, a claim that appears to further strengthen his ties with the Republican base.

President Trump has begun to pay attention to Biden and the general election campaign, but the question is whether the framework of the former president’s lawsuit will be able to persuade voters beyond the Republican base. Mr. Trump lost the popular vote in the 2016 and 2020 elections and faces an uphill battle, particularly in suburban areas from Georgia to Pennsylvania to Arizona, which could prove decisive in his fall campaign. There is sex.

Mr. Trump visited New Hampshire frequently in the months leading up to the primary, but he did not spend as much time in the state as many of his rivals. President Trump held large rallies rather than the traditional approach of greeting voters individually or in small groups. He has spent much of his time complaining about the past, including the lie that the 2020 election was stolen through widespread voter fraud.

If he returns to the White House, the former president has vowed to take a tough line, including blocking migrants from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and reimposing a travel ban from his first term that initially targeted seven Muslim-majority countries. He promised to enact immigration policy. He also echoed the words of Adolf Hitler, saying that the increasing number of immigrants entering the United States is “tainting the blood of our nation.”

Biden faces his own challenges. He is 81 years old, and there are concerns about his age. Opposition is growing within the party over Biden’s alliance with Israel in the war against Hamas, putting the president’s standing in swing states like Michigan at risk. A rally he held in northern Virginia on Tuesday to promote abortion rights, an issue the party sees as critical to success in November, was repeatedly interrupted by protests over U.S. military support for Israel. . One person shouted, “Shame on you!”

But he avoided potential embarrassment in New Hampshire, even though rivals like Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips compared him to Bigfoot in ads. Both are difficult to find.

Bow resident Derwood Sargent, 79, cast a write-in vote for Biden and said he was not upset that the president removed his name from the ballot.

“It’s no big deal. They took great advantage of it. The president has a responsibility to run the country,” he said.

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Colvin reported from Londonderry, New Hampshire. Weissert reported from Washington. The Associated Press’ Bill Barrow in Atlanta, Joseph Frederick in Franklin, New Hampshire, and Mike Pesoli in Laconia, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.