(CNN) — Former President Donald Trump took a big step toward a third consecutive Republican presidential nomination Tuesday, winning the New Hampshire primary in a one-on-one matchup with his last rival standing, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
Haley has vowed to stay in the Republican race and said she will now focus on the Feb. 24 primary in her home state of South Carolina.
But he will have to fight history: In the modern history of presidential campaigns, no non-incumbent candidate has won the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries without winning his party’s nomination.
Trump, who took the stage shortly after Haley’s speech, was furious with her decision to continue her campaign.
“I had to win,” the former president said. “He failed badly.”
As Haley tries to prove she remains a viable contender, President Joe Biden has begun preparations for a general election rematch with Trump, sending top White House officials to work on his campaign and holding an event in Virginia where he criticized Trump on entitlement to abortion.
Here are five highlights from the New Hampshire primary:
Republican presidential candidate Former President Donald Trump speaks at a primary election night party in Nashua, NH, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. (Credit: Matt Rourke/AP Photo)
Trump wants Haley out now
In what was supposed to be a celebratory speech Tuesday night in New Hampshire, Trump seemed upset that Haley had not yet dropped out of the Republican primary race.
He mocked Haley, calling her an “impostor” who had “claimed victory” despite performing “very badly.” (Haley, in fact, congratulated Trump on her victory at the beginning of her speech.)
His comments made clear that Haley’s attacks on Trump’s age, his verbal gaffes and Republican defeats during his tenure as party leader frustrated the former president.
It was a stark contrast to Trump’s comments on election night eight days ago in Iowa, when he praised his rivals as “very smart people, very capable people” and predicted that Republicans “would unite.” This too will happen soon.”
He invited two former 2024 Republican contenders, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, to attack Haley on stage Tuesday night.
“What we see now with her continuing to run is the uglier side of American politics,” Ramaswamy said, attributing Haley’s decision to continue her candidacy to “megadonors” who are not in tune with what Americans want . “What we saw tonight was the United States was first to defeat the United States last.”
He later gave Scott, who took the stage behind him just days after endorsing the former president, the opportunity to attack Haley. She noted that Haley had nominated the South Carolina Republican to the Senate in 2013.
“Did you ever think he actually gave you the name, Tim?,” Trump said. “You must really hate her.”
Scott diplomatically approached the microphone to intervene. “I just love you,” he said himself.
Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley holds a rally in Greer, South Carolina, in May 2023. (Credit: Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Haley says Republican race is ‘far from over’
Even though Trump is eager to get through the Republican primary, and Biden’s campaign manager, Julie Chávez Rodríguez, said Tuesday night that Trump has “virtually clinched” her party’s nomination, Haley insisted she will not abandon the race.
“New Hampshire is first in the nation. He is not the last of the nation. This race is far from over. There are dozens of states left to go,” Haley told supporters in her election night speech Tuesday in New Hampshire.
What’s unclear, however, is where Haley might score a victory against Trump. She will not participate in the Nevada caucuses on February 8 (she will instead participate in the state’s primaries, which will not win her any delegates), nor in the polls in her home state of South Carolina, where the primaries will be held on the 24th. February. It will be the next big showdown: showing Trump a big advantage.
Haley is likely to face enormous pressure to drop out of the race in the coming days. She will face questions about whether she will follow a path similar to that of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who vowed to continue after his second-place finish in last week’s Iowa caucuses, only to withdraw days later.
Haley’s campaign said Tuesday it will put $4 million into television advertising reserves in South Carolina. It also has scheduled a rally this Wednesday night in North Charleston.
Mark Harris, executive director of the pro-Haley Super PAC SFA, told CNN that the group is “on its way to South Carolina” and plans to spend millions of dollars on advertising, mailings and more.
Haley waves to the audience as she speaks at a New Hampshire primary night rally Tuesday in Concord, New Hampshire. (Credit: Charles Krupa/AP)
Haley’s argument: Trump is a loser
Haley used her Tuesday night speech to lay out her clearest argument yet on electability: blaming Trump for Republicans’ disappointing performance in the 2018 and 2022 midterm elections and the 2020 presidential election.
“Under Donald Trump, Republicans lost almost every competitive election,” he said, looking back at the GOP’s failures during Trump’s time as party leader. “The worst kept secret in politics is how much Democrats want to clash with Donald Trump.”
One fan shouted: “He’s a loser!”
The former governor of South Carolina called Trump “the only Republican in the country that Joe Biden can defeat.”
He also highlighted their age. Trump will turn 78 on Election Day in November; Biden will turn 81. She also questioned Trump’s mental competence and challenged him to debate it. (Trump missed all five Republican primary debates and has shown no indication that he would consider participating.)
Trump dominates the polls in the Republican primaries. But polls also show Haley leading the former president into a hypothetical election showdown with Biden, something Haley has noted frequently in recent days.
“The first party to recall its 80-year-old candidate will be the party that wins this election,” he said Tuesday evening. “And I think it should be the Republicans who win this election. So our fight is not over, because we have a country to save.”
Warning signs for Trump
While Trump’s victory was a big step toward solidifying the Republican nomination, there were warning signs about his general election hopes in CNN exit polls among New Hampshire Republican primary voters.
Haley won 29% of the electorate identified as moderate by a 3-to-1 margin.
On the issue of abortion, Trump was the favorite among those who support a ban on most or all abortions nationwide, but Haley edged him out among the 67% of the primary electorate who said they would oppose a prohibition. Biden’s campaign signaled Tuesday its intention to make abortion rights a central issue in the general election.
“Make no mistake: The person most responsible for the deprivation of this freedom in America is Donald Trump,” Biden told supporters at a rally in Manassas, Virginia.
There were other potential signs of trouble among moderate pro-Trump voters. Among them: 44% of the primary electorate said Trump is unfit for president if convicted of a crime, and Haley won 84% of those voters. Haley won 79% of the votes of those who said Biden legitimately won the 2020 election, demonstrating a potentially limited appetite among voters for Trump’s lies about widespread voter fraud.
Biden’s general election candidacy takes shape
Biden won the New Hampshire primary Tuesday night, but risked a setback in New Hampshire after leading the Democratic push to demote the state in the party’s nominating process, elevating the South Carolina primary to become the first race with delegates on the list.
The Democratic National Committee called the vote “senseless” and urged presidential candidates to “take every step possible not to participate.” However, Biden’s allies launched a quiet effort to persuade Democrats to include Biden, and it paid off with an easy victory.
US President Joe Biden delivers a speech during a campaign event focused on abortion rights at the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas, Virginia, on Tuesday. (Credit: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)
It reminded us that although Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips and author Marianne Williamson are challenging Biden, there is no drama: Biden’s path to the Democratic nomination for a second term is clear.
Meanwhile, Biden’s campaign is preparing for an early start to the general election by moving two senior White House advisers to his reelection campaign in Wilmington. Jen O’Malley Dillon, who was Biden’s 2020 campaign manager, is set to serve as Biden’s campaign chair, while Mike Donilon, Biden’s longtime messaging guru, will be chief strategist.
2024-01-24 06:26:00
#lessons #Hampshire #primary
