MANCHESTER, N.H. (WCAX) – Former President Donald Trump is the projected winner of the New Hampshire Republican primary. Political experts say the former president’s victory makes a November match with President Biden look likely.
Trump’s main rival, former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, finished in second. This is Trump’s second straight win on his push to the White House after winning the Iowa caucuses by 30 percentage points.
As of Wednesday morning, the votes in New Hampshire aren’t official but Trump leads Haley by more than 10 percentage points. President Biden prevailed on the Democratic side as a write-in candidate.
While Trump won the first two elections, his opponent says it’s still a long road to the White House. Haley says she’s planning to stay in the race even after falling short of a win.
Voters came out Tuesday to choose their pick for the highest office and if history repeats itself, a lot hangs in the balance, with the last four winners of the GOP primary going on to be the Republican presidential nominee.
Republican voters tell CBS News that the biggest issues for them heading into the polls are the economy and immigration.
While she is not the projected winner, Haley fared better in New Hampshire than she did in Iowa where former President Trump secured a 30-point victory. Despite her second-place win, Haley says she’s preparing for the next Republican primary in South Carolina.
Tuesday night, WCAX News spoke with John Lappie of Plymouth State, who said the results were not surprising. Lappie also said that because Haley didn’t win in New Hampshire, a state with more moderate and independent voters, it is hard to see her path to the White House. According to Lappie, a loss in her home state of South Carolina would be worse for Haley politically than dropping out before the next election.
Trump’s White House bid faces more complications than just Nikki Haley as his ongoing legal cases play out in court.
On the Democratic ticket, Joe Biden secured the projected win without his name even on the ballot. The president wasn’t on the ballot because of a calendar conflict with the Democratic National Committee which recognizes South Carolina’s upcoming election as the first-in-the-nation primary.
Despite the president’s choice not to have his name on the ballot or campaign in the Granite State, New Hampshire Democrats still mobilized a write-in campaign for Biden.
The first official Democratic primary will be on Feb. 3 in South Carolina, and the next Republican primary election will also be in South Carolina, on Feb. 24.
Vermont’s primary elections for both parties will be held on Super Tuesday, March 5.