Former President Donald Trump won the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday in a move that puts him on track to clinch the Republican nomination to face President Joe Biden in November.
Trump had 55.3 percent of votes to 44 percent for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley when Decision Desk HQ, the Bangor Daily News’ national election results partner, called the race for the former president at 8 p.m. Other candidates had less than 1 percent.
Speaking at a Londonderry polling site Tuesday afternoon, Trump insisted Haley, who was the only other major candidate left in the race going into New Hampshire, wasn’t a threat to his campaign. He said she is free to continue challenging him for the nomination.
“I don’t care if she stays in. Let her do whatever she wants,” he said. “It doesn’t matter.”
Haley largely pinned her hopes to the state. But her campaign vowed in a defiant Tuesday memo that she would stay in the race for weeks longer, citing states that will hold primaries that are open to independent voters. That includes Maine and several others that are voting on March 5, known as Super Tuesday for the number of states deciding.
“After Super Tuesday, we will have a very good picture of where this race stands. At that point, millions of Americans in 26 states and territories will have voted,” campaign manager Betsy Ankney wrote. “Until then, everyone should take a deep breath.”
But the path is narrow for Haley. Trump easily won the Iowa caucuses. New Hampshire, the first primary state, was seen as a high water mark for her campaign. She is not eligible for delegates in Nevada, which votes next on Feb. 8. Haley has also trailed Trump by upward of 30 percentage points in polls of her home state, whose primary comes on Feb. 24.
This time last year, it looked like Trump had serious competition for the nomination, with candidates from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to former Vice President Mike Pence, who served under Trump, among the large field of candidates looking to carry the party’s banner forward against Biden.
The party slowly coalesced around Trump, who seemed to be fueled by a barrage of state and federal criminal charges that his supporters see as political. Two trials are scheduled for the spring in a federal case around his handling of classified documents and in a New York case alleging he falsified business records.
Trump started to dominate the field in April. While the party’s base seemed to tap him as the nominee then, many establishment figures were slower. When it was clear that Trump would be the nominee this month, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, who was appointed to his position by Haley, endorsed Trump and campaigned with him.
DeSantis, who was seen as the top early rival to Trump, dropped out on Sunday after his campaign lost steam at the same pace as the former president gained it. The day before, Trump again mocked him by suggesting that he wore high heels, but DeSantis also endorsed Trump upon his exit.
It sets up a November rematch between two deeply unpopular politicians. Biden has a 40 percent approval rating nationally and was recently measured at 38 percent in Maine, a horrendous mark for a reliably Democratic state in presidential races. Trump has a 42 percent favorability rating nationally.
Trump’s New Hampshire victory came with some reservations from voters. About half of Republican voters there said they are concerned that Trump is too extreme to win the general election, according to an Associated Press survey. Only about one-third say the same about Nikki Haley, who served as Trump’s United Nations ambassador.
Complicating Maine’s presidential ballot is Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ December decision to deem Trump ineligible for inciting the Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2021. That ruling proved deeply divisive with voters in Maine and New Hampshire, according to polls from the University of New Hampshire.
His campaign has appealed a similar Colorado ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, while Maine courts are still handling appeals stemming from the Democratic secretary of state’s decision. Trump’s name will remain on the ballot here until a court makes a final ruling.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
