MANCHESTER, N.H. – Former President Donald Trump did it again.
Eight days after he crushed the competition in Iowa’s low-turnout Republican presidential caucuses, Trump easily defeated Nikki Haley – his final remaining major rival for the GOP nomination – in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary.
Fox News projected Trump would win the primary ___ minutes after the final polls closed in New Hampshire.
For Haley, a former two-term South Carolina governor who served as U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration, the New Hampshire primary was likely her best and possibly last chance to slow down or derail the former president’s march towards renomination.
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New Hampshire – where independent voters who make up roughly 40% of the electorate can vote in either major party’s contest and have long played an influential role in the state’s storied presidential primary – was considered fertile ground for Haley. And Haley spent plenty of time and resources in the state, and secured the influential endorsement of popular Republican Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire.
But while Haley appeared to grab the support of plenty of independent voters, Trump was on course to dominate among registered Republicans, who were expected to make up the lion’s share of those casting ballots in New Hampshire’s GOP primary.
The big question going forward is whether Haley will continue her White House bid. Her home state of South Carolina hold the next major contest in the Republican calendar – but the primary isn’t until Feb. 24. Haley repeatedly insisted in recent days that she would be marching on to South Carolina.
For Trump, the victory in New Hampshire following his big win in Iowa moves him another step closer to his goal of winning back the White House.
At the dawn of 2023, the former president was the only declared candidate in the race for the Republican nomination, but he was far from a sure thing.
A year later, the former president once again holds massive sway over the party. Helping to boost his standing – Trump’s legal difficulties.
Trump made history last year as the first former or current president to be indicted for a crime. But his four indictments, including charges he tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss to President Biden, have only fueled his support among Republican voters.
