Donald Trump wins New Hampshire Republican primary – but Nikki Haley says race ‘far from over’

Donald Trump has won the New Hampshire primary, cementing his grip on the Republican presidential nomination. But rival Nikki Haley has insisted that the “race is far from over”. 

The former president confirmed his status as the frontrunner for the Republican nomination after Tuesday’s (23 January) primary, where a state’s party selects its election candidate. 

He led Haley, his last remaining opponent in the Republican race, by 11 percentage points. According to CNN’s New Hampshire presidential primary results, with 91 per cent of the vote counted, Trump took 54.6 per cent to Haley’s 43.2 per cent. 

Speaking after his victory, Trump denounced Haley as an “imposter” who had a “very bad night”. 

However, former South Carolina governor Haley promised to stay in the race despite the loss and an earlier defeat in Iowa. 

“New Hampshire is first in the nation, it is not the last in the nation,” she said. “This race is far from over.”

But there’s no getting away from the fact that Trump leads her in the polls and is expected to win the majority of delegates in the lead-up to the Republican National Convention in July. A rematch between him and president Joe Biden in November’s general election remains highly likely. 

The next significant clash between the Republican candidates is on 24 February, in Haley’s home state of South Carolina. 

Biden has focused his re-election campaign on denouncing the man in beat in 2020. The movement led by Trump will criminalise basic healthcare for Americans on a national level, the president said, and vowed to hold the line against Republican-led abortion bans as long as he remains in the White House.

After Trump’s New Hampshire victory, Biden said that it was “now clear” that he “will be the Republican nominee”, and told voters that the stakes could not be higher. 

“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,” he warned.