Former US president Donald Trump won the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, beating Republican rival Nikki Haley, according to US media projections.
Associated Press declared Trump the winner based on an analysis of initial vote returns as well as the results of AP VoteCast, a survey of Republican primary voters. Other US media also called the race for Trump.
“I want to congratulate Donald Trump,” Haley told supporters. Haley then vowed she would fight on, saying “this race is far from over”.
New Hampshire is the second state to hold a Republican presidential nominating contest. Trump won a crushing victory in the Iowa caucus last week, with Haley a distant third.
What was once a crowded field of 14 candidates narrowed to a one-on-one match-up on Sunday after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dropped out, following a second-place finish in Iowa. DeSantis endorsed Trump.
Trump won New Hampshire’s Republican primary big during his first run for president in 2016.
Trump can win the 2024 US election. Here are 4 reasons why
Trump can win the 2024 US election. Here are 4 reasons why
The former US president remains enormously popular among the party’s conservative base, defying two impeachments, four criminal trials awaiting him and lawsuits for fraud and sexual assault.
Haley’s campaign said on Tuesday it intends to keep her candidacy alive through “Super Tuesday” in early March, when 16 states vote.
The Republican nominee will face President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in the general election in November.
Biden, who beat Trump in 2020, has cast his Republican predecessor as a would-be dictator and a threat to democracy.
Biden won the New Hampshire Democratic primary by write-in, NBC and ABC say, despite not having his name printed on the ballot.
Biden’s New Hampshire victory is largely symbolic. Under rules that he pushed through the Democratic Party last year, South Carolina’s February 3 primary is the first contest that can award delegates to the party convention.
Biden bested Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips, who launched a long shot primary challenge as Biden seeks a second term. Phillips has argued that any New Hampshire finish below 80 per cent for Biden should serve as a warning sign to Democrats.