Former President Donald Trump won the first 2024 Republican primary election in New Hampshire on Tuesday, delivering a major blow to former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s campaign.
According to Politico, the former president won with 54.5% of the vote in New Hampshire’s Republican primary election on Tuesday, securing 12 delegates and breaking the state’s presidential primary election record with 165,629 votes. Despite having the endorsement of New Hampshire Republican Governor Chris Sununu, Haley only received 43.2% of the vote, securing nine delegates with 131,105 votes.
Rich Baris, a media personality from The People’s Pundit, tweeted late Tuesday night that Trump surpassed the presidential primary record that Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) set in 2016 with 152,193 votes.
Trump celebrated Tuesday’s record-breaking victory on Truth Social, writing, “SUCH AN HONOR: I JUST BROKE THE ALL-TIME RECORD FOR VOTES CAST – BOTH SIDES, DEMOCRAT AND REPUBLICAN – IN THE HISTORY OF THE NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY!”
The Daily Wire reported that while polls had recently indicated that Haley had a chance to close the gap on Trump’s lead in the Granite State, Trump’s dominant win in the Iowa Caucuses and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s decision to suspend his presidential campaign and endorse Trump shifted the polls in favor of the former president.
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As Trump’s lead increased over Haley in the aftermath of the Iowa Caucuses, Sununu told ABC News that the former U.N. ambassador’s campaign “always wanted to have a strong second” place finish in New Hampshire. The governor claimed, “That’s the only expectation we ever laid out there.” However, in December, the Republican governor claimed that New Hampshire would be a “win and a reset button” for Haley’s campaign, adding that Haley would have a “landslide” victory in his state.
New Hampshire’s primary election was expected to be a close race between Trump and Haley, largely due to the fact that the state allows undeclared voters to vote in the primary election. A CNN exit poll in New Hampshire estimated that roughly 70% of the individuals who voted for Haley in New Hampshire were not registered as Republicans.
Despite the results of Tuesday’s primary election, Haley has refused to suspend her campaign, telling her supporters, “New Hampshire is first in the nation. It is not the last. This race is far from over.”
