Trump wins New Hampshire GOP primary despite strong showing by Nikki Haley
Former US President Donald Trump won the key New Hampshire primary, moving him ever closer to locking in the Republican presidential nomination.
Donald Trump’s win has secured an extraordinary White House rematch with Joe Biden.
With 36 percent of the estimated vote counted, the former president registered 53.6 percent support against Haley’s 45.3 percent in the critical early state contest Tuesday, the New York Post reported.
Trump won a crushing victory in the first Republican contest in Iowa 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 his second-place Iowa finish.
No Republican has ever won both opening contests and not ultimately secured the party’s nomination.
Indian-American Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said that the race for White House 2024 was “far from over” after her former boss Donald Trump won the New Hampshire primary, solidifying his position as GOP’s likely nominee.
In a speech following the vote, the former UN ambassador during Trump’s presidency said the race was “far from over” and told supporters that Democrats “want” to run against her former boss.
“They know Trump is the only Republican in the country who Joe Biden can defeat,” Haley, 52, warned.
With strong turnout in the northeastern state, Haley had hoped for a major upset. But US broadcasters quickly projected her defeat as the first tallies came in.
New Hampshire is first in the nation, it is not last in the nation,” Haley, the two-time former South Carolina governor, told supporters in Concord minutes after Trump’s projected victory by the local media.
Congratulating Trump for the victory, Haley said that he “earned it” but added that “this race is far from over. There are dozens of states left to go. And the next one is my sweet state of South Carolina”.
Trump, who doesn’t consider Haley as “a threat”, leads her by about 30 points in South Carolina ahead of the February 24 primary in the state, according to a polling average by RealClearPolitics.
Calls among Trump’s supporters grew louder for the former ambassador to the United Nations to drop out of the race, especially after the former president’s victories in the states of Iowa and New Hampshire.
Meanwhile, Trump, celebrated his win with a victory speech in Nashua, slamming Haley without naming her. “She’s doing a speech like she won. She didn’t win, she lost,” Trump said.
[With Inputs from IANS]
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