Donald Trump has won the New Hampshire Republican primary, while President Joe Biden prevailed on the Democratic side as a write-in candidate.
Trump’s sole GOP opponent, Nikki Haley, says the race is far from over.
Trump wins GOP primary as rematch with Biden appears likely
Biden wins Democratic primary through a write-in effort
Trump rides to victory on the strength of support from the GOP base, AP VoteCast shows
Who’s running for president? Here are the major 2024 candidates
WASHINGTON — More people cast votes in Tuesday’s New Hampshire GOP primary than in any previous presidential primary for either party in the state’s history.
As of the latest vote tally on Wednesday afternoon, nearly 318,000 New Hampshire Republicans and independents cast votes in the first-in-the-nation primary. That exceeded the previous record set in the 2020 Democratic primary, when more than 298,000 Democrats and independents decided a contest between U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of neighboring Vermont, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and a crowded field.
The AP estimates the total turnout in this year’s Republican primary will be approximately 330,000.
The 2016 primaries, the last time neither party had an incumbent president running for reelection, had the highest combined turnout in the state’s history, with about 539,000 Granite Staters heading to the polls. Tuesday’s primary currently ranks fourth in combined turnout.
Trump holds the distinction of receiving the most votes ever in a New Hampshire presidential primary, with about 173,000 votes as of Wednesday morning. Sanders held the previous record with about 152,000 votes received in 2016.
WASHINGTON — With more than 95% of the expected vote reported, there’s a single delegate left to be allocated in the New Hampshire Republican primary. But no matter where that spare ends up as the final ballots are counted, Trump is far ahead in the overall delegate count through the first two contests.
New Hampshire assigns its Republican delegates proportionally among candidates who win at least 10% of the vote statewide. Trump, who placed first, and Haley, who placed second, will split the state’s 22 delegates, as no other candidate hit 10%.
Trump will receive 12 delegates, more than half of the state’s total. Haley has locked down nine delegates, but she’s on the cusp of receiving 10. If Haley does end up with 10 delegates, that’s the end of the count for New Hampshire. If she doesn’t reach 10, however, then we’re left with one extra delegate. According to RNC rules in New Hampshire, that extra delegate goes to the person who won the most votes: Trump.
In Iowa, Trump won 20 delegates to Haley’s eight.
Haley donors sounded an upbeat note a day after her second-place finish in New Hampshire, satisfied that the race had become a two-person contest.
A fundraiser planned for next week in New York, with hosts including 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s top fundraiser Spencer Zwick, was expected to go forward, with plans for more events in February.
“She mentioned two months in her speech last night, and the campaign has a game plan to bring this through to Super Tuesday,” said campaign donor and fundraiser Ozzie Palomo, referring to the March 5 slate of contests. “My thought is, Let’s focus on the task at hand in the next state, which is South Carolina.”
“She’s made the decision to bring this fight down there, and my sense is that she sees a path to be competitive,” Palomo. added.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — During a call with reporters on Wednesday, Mark Harris, chief strategist for the super PAC supporting Haley, said that the candidate “has a path” to the GOP nomination, regardless of Trump’s two wins in the earliest votes.
Pointing toward Haley’s native South Carolina, Harris said the first-in-the-South state “is where the battleground is going to be,” noting that the open primary means that any Democrats who opt not to participate in their party’s Feb. 3 primary can choose to support Haley in the Feb. 24 vote.
In terms of the vote in South Carolina, where Trump boasts many endorsements among elected leaders, Harris said he was more focused on the voters.
“It will not be politicians. It won’t be party insiders,” Harris said. “It won’t be campaign officials. It will be voters. Voters get to make this decision. Thats the beauty of American democracy.”
CONCORD, N.H. — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign says it has gathered enough signatures from registered voters in New Hampshire to qualify for the state’s ballot in the general election.
The independent candidate already has qualified for the ballot in another state, Utah.
Some have questioned whether he or another independent or third-party candidate could play spoiler in a close presidential race this fall.
But the candidate, who is known for his environmental conservation work and anti-vaccine empire, has a long road ahead. Each state sets its own requirements to qualify for the ballot, and the process can be costly for candidates not backed by the major parties.
WASHINGTON — Haley is set to campaign in her home state of South Carolina on Wednesday and address the U.S. Virgin Islands by Zoom as the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination moves beyond the first two voting states.
Trump flew back to Florida on Tuesday night after a strong performance in New Hampshire. It was his third straight New Hampshire primary victory, tying a record previously held by Richard Nixon, who won the event in 1960, 1968 and 1972. Trump is the first presidential candidate to win three consecutive New Hampshire primaries.
The next primary is scheduled for Feb. 3 in South Carolina on the Democratic side.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden says New Hampshire’s primary results make it clear that he will face off against his 2020 rival, former President Donald Trump, in 2024.
In a statement, Biden thanked those who wrote in his name for the Democratic primary and appealed to independent and Republican voters who reject Trump to support his campaign.
“My message to the country is the stakes could not be higher,” Biden said. “Our Democracy. Our personal freedoms — from the right to choose to the right to vote. Our economy — which has seen the strongest recovery in the world since COVID. All are at stake.”
NASHUA, N.H. — If voters were looking for a magnanimous victory speech from Trump, they didn’t get it Tuesday night.
“You can’t let people get away with (expletive),” Trump railed as he criticized Haley for failing to exit the race after he won New Hampshire’s GOP primary.
From the stage, former candidate and now-Trump backer Vivek Ramaswamy declared the race over.
But if Trump is looking to pivot to the general election, he didn’t do so Tuesday.
Instead, he repeated lies about the 2020 election and slammed those who voted for Haley, saying they only did so “’cause they want me to look as bad as possible.”
NASHUA, N.H. — Trump is lacing into Haley as he celebrates his win in the New Hampshire primary.
Unlike his election night speech in Iowa, where he called for unity, Trump is making clear his fury that Haley is not dropping out after finishing second.
“This is not your typical victory speech, but let’s not have someone take a victory when she had a very bad night,” Trump said, complaining that Haley came in third in Iowa “and she’s still hanging around.”
“I don’t get too angry. I get even,” he told a crowd of supporters packed into a steamy hotel ballroom.
CONCORD, N.H. — Haley didn’t win New Hampshire, but she says her 2024 campaign is full steam ahead regardless.
Appearing at her election night party Tuesday, Haley thanked New Hampshire “for the love, the kindness, the support and a great night.”
Haley congratulated Trump on his victory, saying, “He earned that, and I want to acknowledge that.”
But Haley said that the GOP race “is far from over.” She vowed to take her “scrappy” campaign onward to her home state of South Carolina, which holds its GOP primary next month.
Haley also took a swipe at Trump for appearing to confuse her with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying that his avowed confidence that he would score higher than her on a competency test should mean that he “should have no problem standing on a debate stage with me.”
WASHINGTON — Haley drew her support from groups that were distinct minorities in the GOP electorate, according to AP VoteCast. She beat Trump among primary participants who were not formally affiliated with any party. About half of her supporters were college graduates and about half identified as moderates.
AP VoteCast is a survey of more than 1,890 New Hampshire voters who were taking part in the Republican primary and 873 Democratic primary voters. The survey is conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
WASHINGTON — About 8 in 10 GOP primary participants said they expect Trump will win the presidential nomination, according to AP VoteCast. Only about 2 in 10 say Haley will secure it. More than half of Haley’s own supporters think Trump will be victorious in the nominating contest.
AP VoteCast is a survey of more than 1,890 New Hampshire voters who were taking part in the Republican primary and 873 Democratic primary voters. The survey is conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
WASHINGTON — AP VoteCast showed Trump won big in small towns and rural communities, where about two-thirds of primary participants said they live. Most GOP voters in the state lack a college degree and about two-thirds of them voted for Trump. The former president won about 7 in 10 Republican voters who identified as conservatives and those who were registered Republicans.
AP VoteCast is a survey of more than 1,890 New Hampshire voters who were taking part in the Republican primary and 873 Democratic primary voters. The survey is conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
WASHINGTON — The Associated Press declared Biden the winner of New Hampshire’s Democratic primary based on an analysis of initial vote returns where write-in votes have been tabulated by candidate.
The early returns confirm the findings of AP’s VoteCast survey of likely Democratic primary voters, which found an overwhelming majority of write-in voters supporting the incumbent president. Together, they show that Biden has an insurmountable lead over the rest of the Democratic field.
Biden decided not to put his name on the New Hampshire ballot, since the state’s primary violates Democratic Party rules. It was Biden’s idea to bump the state from its prized first-in-the-nation primary calendar slot in favor of South Carolina, which resuscitated his struggling campaign in 2020. Instead, his supporters are backing him as a write-in candidate.
The VoteCast survey asked likely voters if they would support U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, author Marianne Williamson or someone else. Of those who said they support someone else, nearly all indicated they would write in Biden.
As of 8:09 p.m., Phillips and Williamson were at 21% and 5% of the tabulated vote, respectively, and AP’s analysis shows that there are no scenarios for either to end up the winner.
WASHINGTON — Haley has finished second in New Hampshire to Trump, a setback in her effort to reset the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
The former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor, who invested significant time and financial resources in the state, ramped up her criticism of Trump after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race and she became the sole GOP alternative to him. But the appeal ultimately failed to resonate with enough voters, and she’s in a weakened position heading into a primary in her home state.
WASHINGTON — Biden won New Hampshire’s largely symbolic Democratic primary, prevailing in an unusual write-in effort after he refused to campaign or appear on the ballot in the state.
Biden easily bested two longshot challengers, Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips and self-help author Marianne Williamson, who were on the ballot along with a host of little-known names. His victory in a race he was not formally contesting essentially cements Biden’s grasp on the Democratic nomination for a second term.
WASHINGTON — The 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. Both indicated Trump was running ahead of Haley by an insurmountable margin.
Initial results from more than 25 townships showed Trump leading by a comfortable margin as of 8 p.m. This includes results from Manchester and Concord, two of the state’s three most-populous cities. Early returns were also reported from more rural areas in the northern and eastern parts of the state. All confirmed the findings of AP’s survey.
The only areas in which Haley was leading Trump in early returns were in the state’s most Democratic-leaning cities and towns, such as Concord, Keene and Portsmouth.
VoteCast showed Trump leading Haley by a substantial margin across all regions of the state. It also showed Haley supported by a majority of unaffiliated voters choosing to cast their ballot in the Republican primary. That wasn’t enough to make up for Trump’s nearly 50-point lead among registered Republicans. New Hampshire allows voters not affiliated with a political party to participate in either party’s primary. Voters registered with a party may only vote in their own party’s primary.
New Hampshire’s 22 delegates will be allocated proportionally among candidates who receive at least 10% of the vote statewide.
WASHINGTON — Trump has won New Hampshire’s GOP primary, delivering a setback to rival Haley, who is running out of time to establish herself as a viable alternative to him.
It was his second straight victory in his quest for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. He won Iowa’s leadoff caucuses by 30 percentage points.
Biden allies, meanwhile, are hoping their write-in campaign on the Democratic side is successful. Polls closed statewide at 8 p.m.
NASHUA, N.H. — Among those attending Trump’s election night party at the Nashua Sheraton: former New York congressman George Santos.
“I am a Trump supporter. There’s, like, a lot of surprise to see me here. You’re going to see me at a lot more of these,” Santos told The Associated Press.
Asked if he was planning to have any formal role as a surrogate, he said he wasn’t. “I’m just having fun!”
Earlier in the day, Santos appeared for a brief hearing in federal court on Long Island ahead of his criminal fraud trial, which is slated for later this year. He said he doesn’t plan to vote in next month’s special election to fill his now vacant seat in Congress.
Polls are beginning to close in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primaries. Polls in most of the state closed at 7 p.m. ET and some close at 7:30 p.m. The last polls in the state close at 8 p.m.
And in tiny Dixville Notch, which has only a handful of residents, polls opened at midnight and closed a few minutes later after all voters cast a ballot.
WASHINGTON — Biden is dispatching two of his senior-most White House advisers to his reelection campaign in Delaware as his focus shifts to the general election in November.
The new roles for deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon and senior adviser Mike Donilon had been expected, and campaign aides insisted it was not a sign of a broader shakeup. The campaign said Donilon would focus on advertising and strategy, while O’Malley Dillon would work on organizing and the electoral mechanics.
NASHUA, N.H. — Trump’s legal, political and personal worlds are colliding at Trump’s election night party.
His son Eric Trump, daughter-in-law Lara Trump, lawyer Alina Habba and valet Walt Nauta were among the figures from Trump’s orbit wandering around the Nashua hotel hours before Trump was set to take the stage.
Habba has been representing Trump in several of the legal cases he faces, including his civil fraud trial in New York and civil sex abuse and defamation trial.
Nauta was Trump’s valet at the White House before joining him as a personal aide at Mar-a-Lago. He was charged along with Trump in a federal case over the mishandling of classified documents. Nauta has pleaded not guilty to charges that he helped the former president hide classified documents from federal authorities. He has remained by Trump’s side as he campaigns and attends court hearings for his various legal cases.
MANASSAS, Va. — President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are looking toward a general election matchup against Trump as they rally for abortion rights in Virginia.
“He’s betting we won’t hold him responsible,” Biden said to a crowd of hundreds of cheering supporters, referring to Trump’s Supreme Court nominees who paved the way for overturning Roe v. Wade. “He’s betting you’re going to stop caring.”
“But guess what?” he added. “I’m betting he’s wrong. I’m betting you won’t forget.”
The rally came the same day that New Hampshire voters were heading to the polls for the first-in-the-nation primary. In a reflection of the importance that Democrats are putting on abortion this year, Biden and Harris were joined by their spouses — the first time the four of them have appeared together since the 2024 campaign began.
“The person most responsible for taking away this freedom in America is Donald Trump,” he said.
WASHINGTON — More than 8 in 10 approve of his economic leadership, according to AP VoteCast. And around 8 in 10 approve of how he’s handling the student debt issue. About 6 in 10 approve of his approach to immigration. When it comes to the ongoing conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians, however, only about half approve.
AP VoteCast is a survey of more than 1,890 New Hampshire voters who were taking part in the Republican primary and 873 Democratic primary voters. The survey is conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
WASHINGTON — About half of GOP voters are very or somewhat concerned that Trump is too extreme to win the general election, according to AP VoteCast. Only about one-third say the same about Haley.
AP VoteCast is a survey of more than 1,890 New Hampshire voters who were taking part in the Republican primary and 873 Democratic primary voters. The survey is conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
WASHINGTON — About 4 in 10 Republican voters identify immigration as the most important issue facing the U.S. By contrast, 3 in 10 Republican voters say the economy is their priority, according to AP VoteCast.
About 7 in 10 say immigrants do more to hurt the country than help it. And 8 in 10 favor building a wall along the southern border.
AP VoteCast is a survey of more than 1,890 New Hampshire voters who were taking part in the Republican primary and 873 Democratic primary voters. The survey is conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
WASHINGTON — The participation of undeclared voters in New Hampshire means that the candidates are facing a different electorate than they did in Iowa last week. More than 4 in 10 GOP primary voters are not affiliated with a party, compared with about 2 in 10 in the Democratic primary, according to AP VoteCast.
AP VoteCast is a survey of more than 1,890 New Hampshire voters who were taking part in the Republican primary and 873 Democratic primary voters. The survey is conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
DERRY, N.H. — Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips was spotted earlier in the day shaking the hands of poll workers and voters at a school gymnasium in Derry.
The Minnesota congressman entered the race in October in an event outside New Hampshire’s statehouse, saying, “It is time for the torch to be passed to a new generation of American leaders.”
Phillips is highly unlikely to wrest the Democratic presidential nomination away from Biden, even if the president suffers an embarrassing loss Tuesday in a state where he’s not even on the ballot. Still, his run offers a symbolic challenge to national Democrats trying to project the idea that there is no reason to doubt the president’s electability.
Self-help author Marianne Williamson is also seeking the Democratic nomination.
LONDONDERRY, N.H. — Trump is predicting that Haley will likely have a “big loss” in New Hampshire.
Speaking at a polling site Tuesday afternoon, Trump insisted Haley wasn’t a threat to his campaign and said she is free to continue challenging him for the GOP nomination.
“I don’t care if she stays in. Let her do whatever she wants,” he said. “It doesn’t matter.”
He said he wouldn’t comment on whether he’d spoken to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and whether he would consider him as his running mate. “I just can’t comment on that,” he said.
BOW, N.H. — Democrat Durwood Sargent, 79, cast a write-in vote for Biden on Tuesday and said he’d be excited to support him in the general election.
He said he wasn’t offended that the president kept his name off the ballot to comply with the Democratic National Committee’s new primary calendar that bumped New Hampshire from its first-in-the-nation spot.
“It’s not a big deal. They’ve made a big deal out of it. The president’s got a country to run,” he said.
Sargent said he’s “absolutely” excited to support Biden if he’s the nominee in November.
“He’s done tremendous stuff for this country,” he said. “In particular, he’s the first president to stand with striking workers.”
BOW, N.H. — Linda Kelly, 46, an independent voter and stay-at-home mom, said she voted for Haley.
“I’m not far left or far right. She’s a little bit to the right, but much closer to the middle than any of the other choices,” she said outside a community center.
Kelly sighed heavily when asked who she would support if the general election is a rematch between Trump and Biden.
“I don’t like either of the choices. I probably would lean to Trump just because the economy was better (when he was in office),” she said.
CONCORD, N.H. — Voting across the state was going smoothly with steady turnout into the early afternoon, according to Secretary of State spokesperson Anna Sventek.
Assistant Attorney General Brendan O’Donnell, head of the department’s Election Law Unit, agreed, saying it was a “great morning” with “no major issues.”
O’Donnell said his office was dealing with “typical complaints” from some voters who were affiliated with one party and wanted to vote in the other party’s primary. Such complaints come in every year, he said. Registered Democrats or Republicans who wanted to switch their party affiliation for this election would have had to do so by a deadline in October.
There were also some isolated issues with accessible voting machines and electioneering in polling locations that were being resolved, he said.
CONCORD, N.H. — The weather for New Hampshire’s primary has been much kinder to voters than the record-setting cold last week for Iowa’s caucuses.
Temperatures in New Hampshire on Tuesday started out in the low 20s and reached 30s by early afternoon, much warmer than the last few days when temperatures struggled to get out of the teens. Some light snow was possible Tuesday night, around the time that polls close.
Iowa’s Jan. 15 vote was the lowest-turnout caucuses in a quarter-century. The high temperature in the capital city, Des Moines, that day was 1 degree Fahrenheit, with the temperature falling to minus-17 by sundown.
HAMPTON, N.H. — Haley is vowing to stay in the race even if Trump wins New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation GOP primary.
The former U.N. ambassador has focused considerable resources in New Hampshire, hoping to capitalize on the state’s independent streak as she looks for an upset or at least a tight loss that could dent Trump’s continued domination of Republican politics.
“I’m running against Donald Trump, and I’m not going to talk about an obituary,” Haley told reporters at a polling site in Hampton.
Regardless of how New Hampshire goes, she says, she plans to be in the race for South Carolina’s Feb. 24 primary.
“This has always been a marathon. It’s never been a sprint,” she said.
HAMPTON, N.H. — Pat Sheridan, a Republican from Hampton, said he voted for Trump “because he did a really good job the first time.”
“We need a businessman, not bureaucrats,” said Sheridan, a 63-year-old engineer.
He said the most important issue to him was the economy. “Everything‘s just really bad right now,” he said.
If Trump returns to the White House, Sheridan hopes he will be more careful about choosing his Cabinet members and should bring in better advisers.
“I think he listened to a lot of people he shouldn’t have listened to,” he said.
HAMPTON, N.H. — Independent voter Betsey Davis, an 81-year-old who described herself as “ancient,” said she voted for Dean Phillips in the Democratic primary.
Davis, who supports abortion rights and the “freedom to be,” said she would vote for Biden if he faces Trump again in the general election, but she’s not excited about it.
“I think he’s too old,” she said, noting that they were the same age. “He may be a nice man, but nice doesn’t really count in politics.”
Asked what Biden would need to do to earn her enthusiastic vote in November, she said, “I’d like him to be stronger, much stronger. I’d like him to be able to get both parties together.”
HAMPTON, N.H. — Laurie Dufour was surprised to see Haley, her favored candidate, show up at her polling place on Tuesday morning.
Dufour, 66, said she is an independent who tends to vote for Democrats but likes Haley.
“I did not want Trump, and she just sounded very knowledgeable,” she said. However, she noted that she supports abortion rights and “almost didn’t vote for her” because of that.
Dufour said she would vote for Biden “in a heartbeat” over Trump in a general election but wishes he would consider stepping down.
“Mostly, I just think he’s too old. It’s sad — when I watch him, I could cry. It’s like watching your grandfather, you know?” Dufour said. “I think it’s time for him to let go.”
HAMPTON, N.H. — Haley says her sweep of tiny Dixville Notch is a good start that gives her campaign momentum heading into the day.
“Right now we’ll take whatever we can take,” Haley told reporters while visiting a polling place in Hampton on Tuesday morning. She said she was grateful for the six registered voters in the resort town who turned out to vote for her.
Haley also vowed to continue with her campaign even if she doesn’t have a good night in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary.
“We’re going to South Carolina. We have put in the ad buy. We are there. This has always been a marathon. It’s never been a sprint. We wanted to be strong in Iowa. We wanted to be stronger than that in New Hampshire. We’re going to be even stronger than that in South Carolina,” she said.
CONCORD, N.H. — Polls are beginning to open across much of New Hampshire as the state’s famously independent-minded electorate makes its pick for the 2024 presidential nominees.
In the first results released early Tuesday, all six registered voters of tiny Dixville Notch cast their ballots for Haley over Trump. The resort town is the only one in New Hampshire this year that opted to vote at midnight.
The Democratic side is different, though. The Democratic National Committee revamped the voting calendar to put South Carolina first, but New Hampshire Democrats defied the new order and opted to hold their primary Tuesday, as well. Biden’s name isn’t on the ballot as a result, but his allies are mounting a write-in campaign for him.
