Donald Trump took home the victory in the New Hampshire Republican primary Tuesday night, Jan. 23, beating GOP challenger, former U.N. Ambassador, Nikki Haley.
President Joe Biden won the Democratic contest as a write-in candidate.
It was the first primary of the presidential race following the Jan. 15 Iowa caucus, which Trump and Biden also won for their respective parties.
The Associated Press called Trump’s win an hour after the polls closed. With 99% of the votes counted, Trump had earned 54% of the votes, while Nikki Haley had earned 43%.
This is Trump’s second win in New Hampshire’s primary, which he also won in 2016.
On Sunday, Jan. 21, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ended his presidential campaign and endorsed Trump, narrowing the Republican race to just two candidates after Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out after the Iowa caucus.
Biden pulled his name off the ballot following a conflict between New Hampshire and the Democratic National Committee’s proposed primary calendar. New Hampshire’s state law says that they will hold the first primary.
However, Biden wanted the first Democratic primary in South Carolina this year. New Hampshire continued to hold their primary first, and Biden was limited to being a write-in candidate.
Trump’s victory brings the election closer to a rematch between him and Biden in the general election in November.
Delegates are chosen to represent their voting precinct at the party’s national convention. Republicans have 22 delegates at stake in New Hampshire, which will be proportionally distributed to any candidate who gets at least 10% of the vote. A candidate will need 1,215 delegates to win the Republican nomination. There will be no Democratic delegates awarded in this primary.
Haley delivered her remarks after Trump was projected the winner. She indicated that she will beat Trump incrementally in the South Carolina primary, Feb. 24. The next Democratic primary is also in South Carolina Feb. 3.
“New Hampshire is the first in the nation. It is not the last in the nation,” Haley said to an enthusiastic crowd Tuesday evening.
Trump took the stage a while later, commenting on Haley’s speech.
“Who the hell was the impostor that went up on the stage that went before and claimed victory?” Trump asked the crowd.
