Biden wins New Hampshire primary, despite not campaigning in state
Joe Biden has won New Hampshire’s Democratic presidential primary, the Associated Press reports, despite the president not campaigning in the state.
New Hampshire had in years past held the first primary in the nation, and the second contest of the Democratic nomination calendar after Iowa’s caucuses. But under Biden, the Democratic National Committee has changed its schedule, and South Carolina will be the first state to vote for the Democratic nominee on 3 February.
Biden’s name did not appear on the ballot in New Hampshire, but his supporters organized a write-in campaign to show support for his presidency, and also to remind him of their desire to remain the first state to hold a primary. That campaign appears to have paid off.
Key events
Biden campaign says New Hampshire results prove the ‘Maga movement has completed its takeover’ of GOP
Joe Biden’s re-election campaign appears to be welcoming a rematch with Donald Trump.
In a just-released statement, campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodriguez said:
Tonight’s results confirm Donald Trump has all but locked up the GOP nomination, and the election denying, anti-freedom Maga movement has completed its takeover of the Republican party. Trump is offering Americans the same extreme agenda that has cost Republicans election after election: promising to undermine American democracy, reward the wealthy on the backs of the middle class, and ban abortion nationwide.
Joe Biden sees things differently. He’s fighting to grow our economy for the middle class, strengthen our democracy, and protect the rights of every single American. While we work toward November 2024, one thing is increasingly clear today: Donald Trump is headed straight into a general election matchup where he’ll face the only person to have ever beaten him at the ballot box: Joe Biden.
Adam Gabbatt
A groan just went up at Dean Phillips’ election night party, after TV networks announced Joe Biden had won the Democratic primary.
Phillips wasn’t expecting to win tonight. At campaign events, he had suggested that garnering 20% of the vote in New Hampshire would be a success.
His supporters will now be watching for more detailed results, after a write-in campaign for the president was clearly successful.
Bill Barry, a retired law enforcement officer, said Phillips, who entered the Democratic race in October 2023, just hasn’t had time to reel in Biden.
“Unfortunately, he got in late,” Barry, 64, said.
“But, you know, you got to give the guy credit for three or four months. He’s been out there on the campaign. He’s been doing it the New Hampshire way: getting out there meeting the people, going into town halls, going to restaurants and shaking hands and meeting people.”
Phillips is showing no signs of dropping out of the race. A member of his campaign told the Guardian that tomorrow about 12 campaign staff are flying to South Carolina, which has its primary on 3 February.
Haley vows to stay in campaign despite Trump win
Lauren Gambino
Speaking at her campaign headquarters in Concord, Nikki Haley congratulated Donald Trump on his victory.
But she says she’s staying in the race.
“New Hampshire is first in the nation. It is not the last,” she said.
Donald Trump’s win in New Hampshire has made one Republican senator who was holding out on endorsing him change his mind.
Texas Republican John Cornyn had not weighed in on the presidential race, but made clear last year that he thought someone besides Trump should the party’s nominee. He has now endorsed the former president, after his win in New Hampshire this evening:
I have seen enough. To beat Biden, Republicans need to unite around a single candidate, and it’s clear that President Trump is Republican voters’ choice. Four more years of failed domestic policies like the Biden Border Crisis and record-high inflation, and failed foreign…
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) January 24, 2024
The Dallas Morning News reported that on a call with reporters last May, Cornyn said, “I think President Trump’s time has passed him by and what’s the most important thing to me is we have a candidate who can actually win.”
Lauren Gambino
At Nikki Haley’s watch party, the playlist is upbeat and supporters are dancing and cheering.
It’s not the scene you’d expect at the headquarters of a campaign that just lost in New Hampshire. But nevertheless, team Haley is jamming to “Proud Mary” and “Eye of the Tiger”.
David Smith
At Donald Trump’s election night watch party in Nashua, several cheers went up in the crowded ballroom, and some hats were thrown in the air, when two big screens announced: “Trump wins New Hampshire!”
Kari Lake, a candidate for Senate in Arizona, gleefully told reporters: “Maga! Make America great again!”
Meanwhile the Beatles song “Revolution” is playing outside the ballroom for no obvious reason.
Biden wins New Hampshire primary, despite not campaigning in state
Joe Biden has won New Hampshire’s Democratic presidential primary, the Associated Press reports, despite the president not campaigning in the state.
New Hampshire had in years past held the first primary in the nation, and the second contest of the Democratic nomination calendar after Iowa’s caucuses. But under Biden, the Democratic National Committee has changed its schedule, and South Carolina will be the first state to vote for the Democratic nominee on 3 February.
Biden’s name did not appear on the ballot in New Hampshire, but his supporters organized a write-in campaign to show support for his presidency, and also to remind him of their desire to remain the first state to hold a primary. That campaign appears to have paid off.
The biggest outstanding question now is how big Donald Trump’s victory in New Hampshire was.
The greater the gap between him and Nikki Haley, the more pressure the former South Carolina governor will be under to abandon the race – though she has previously said she will continue her campaign, no matter what.
Trump wins New Hampshire Republican primary
Donald Trump has won New Hampshire’s Republican presidential primary, the Associated Press reports.
This is Trump’s second victory in the two states that voted in the GOP nomination process. Last week, he won overwhelmingly in Iowa’s caucuses.
The next state to vote is Nevada, where the Republicans will hold caucuses on 8 February. Polls show Trump is ahead there.
Voting concludes in New Hampshire presidential primary
It’s 8pm, and the final polling stations have just closed in New Hampshire’s presidential primary. Now we await results.
George Santos shows up at Donald Trump watch party
David Smith
Disgraced ex-congressman George Santos has shown up at Donald Trump’s election watch party.
Queuing at the bar, he denied that he is here as an official campaign surrogate. “I’m just here to have fun,” he told the Guardian. “It’s a three-hour drive for me.”
Santos was expelled last month from the House of Representatives. Asked what he is up to these days, Santos smiled: “Having fun. I’m enjoying my pink slip moment.”
Trump’s election night party is at the Sheraton Nashua, where rooms start at $489 per night. Its website states: “The grand exterior of this castle-like hotel draws inspiration from medieval European castles, while the interior is built upon creating community-fluid spaces that feel warm and inviting.”
The hotel is buzzing ahead of Trump’s expected victory in the New Hampshire primary election. People wearing Maga and USA hats, and stars and stripes scarves, are wandering about in the bar area. Vivek Ramaswamy popped into the hotel restaurant and was greeted by fans wanting handshakes.
The focal point is a fancy hotel ballroom where guests are gathering and making noise. The familiar Trump lectern and row of American flags is on stage. Trump surrogates such as Ramaswamy, Byron Donalds and Kari Lake are in the room doing media interviews.
But as the years go by and election cycles come and go, one thing doesn’t change: journalists swapping tales about their lack of internet access on the campaign trail.
Lauren Gambino
As Nikki Haley chases an upset in the Granite state, someone will be missing from her election night watch party: her husband.
Michael Haley is currently deployed on a yearlong mission in Africa with the South Carolina national guard. He previously deployed to Afghanistan in 2012, while she was governor of South Carolina.
Haley references his service and her experience as the “proud wife of a combat veteran” frequently in her stump speech. In it, she recalls dropping him off at “4am for another yearlong deployment”, watching her husband join hundreds of soldiers depart for a country they’ve never been “all in the name of protecting America”.
“They’re willing to sacrifice their lives and their families, because they still believe in this amazing experiment,” she said in Salem, New Hampshire, on Monday.
She uses this story as a segway to talk about her platform for veterans and criticize Biden’s handling of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. She also invoked Michael to respond to the interruptions by protesters during her events.
In Exeter, as security removed a protester holding a banner that said “Oil Sellout”, Haley said: “I am always happy to see a protester because my husband and many military men and women sacrifice every day for them to be able to do that.” It was one of her strongest applause lines of the evening.
Haley is not entirely without family on the trail. Her children, Rena and Nalin, and son-in-law, Josh Jackson, have been a constant presence at her campaign events in the final days before the primary.
Another batch of New Hampshire polls just closed at 7.30pm, per the Associated Press.
Voting in the last polling stations in the state still active will conclude at 8pm.
The Cook Politics Report also believes Donald Trump has won New Hampshire’s primary:
I’ve seen enough: Donald Trump (R) wins the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary, defeating Nikki Haley (R).
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) January 24, 2024
At the Guardian, we rely on the Associated Press to call these races, and they have not weighed in yet.
While it’s too soon to call the Republican primary, the Cook Political Report believes Joe Biden has won the state’s Democratic primary, even though his name was not on the ballot and he did not campaign in the state:
I’ve seen enough: Pres. Joe Biden (D) wins the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary.
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) January 24, 2024
Supporters of the president nonetheless organized a write-in campaign, and it appears to have worked.
CNN has done some exit polling in New Hampshire that underscore how the state is different from Iowa, whose caucuses Donald Trump won overwhelmingly last week.
New Hampshire’s electorate is known for being independent, and CNN’s data shows a split over Trump’s baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 election, while his Maga philosophy has relatively few takers:
First CNN exit polls from New Hampshire —
Do you think Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election?
Yes: 49%
No: 49%Are you a part of the MAGA movement?
Yes: 32%
No: 64%https://t.co/YRUoJujXr8— David Wright (@DavidWright_7) January 23, 2024
There are also far more moderates in the Granite state than in Iowa:
Other early findings —
Composition of the electorate:
Registered Republican: 49%
Registered undeclared: 47%Ideology:
Very conservative: 24%
Somewhat Conservative: 39%
Moderate: 31%**was 9% in Iowa
— David Wright (@DavidWright_7) January 23, 2024
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Nikki Haley’s voters sharply differ from Trump’s over whether he should continue his campaign if convicted of one of the many things he has been accused of doing:
CNN exit poll of New Hampshire GOP primary voters:
Trump fit for presidency, if convicted of a crime?
Yes: 50%
No: 47%AMONG TRUMP VOTERS
Yes: 86%
No: 11%AMONG HALEY VOTERS
Yes: 12%
No: 85%https://t.co/YRUoJujXr8— David Wright (@DavidWright_7) January 23, 2024
We’ll find out soon what this all means for Trump and Haley tonight.
First primary polls close in New Hampshire
It’s 7pm, which means primary polling places in many parts of New Hampshire have closed. However, some sites are staying open until 8pm, so we won’t have full results until after that.
Expect to see some results announced over the coming hour.
David Smith
Donald Trump’s allies are predicting victory by “a big margin” in New Hampshire and are seeking to isolate Nikki Haley as the last Republican refusing to acknowledge that Trump will be the party nominee.
Speaking at the Sheraton Nashua hotel ahead of Trump’s election watch party, Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump’s Super Pac, Make America Great Again Inc, said: “A win is a win and we’re very confident that President Trump will win by a big margin here in New Hampshire. The polls have indicated that since the beginning of this race and the enthusiasm on the ground, you can tell. We have the best ground game in this state.”
Leavitt, who hails from New Hampshire and was a staffer in the first Trump administration, added: “We’ve been saying for a long time that Nikki Haley does not have a pathway to this nomination, and it’s been true for months. It certainly is true after Iowa, where she came in an embarrassing third place and it will be true again after tonight. That’s a decision Nikki Haley has to make.
“She seems to be the only Republican left in America who doesn’t realise that President Trump is going to be the nominee and who doesn’t want to start taking this fight to Joe Biden and the Democrats,” Leavitt added.
Carter Sherman
Joe Biden took the stage after Kamala Harris, but protesters upset at his administration’s policy towards Israel interrupted his speech about 10 times.
Almost as soon as the president took the stage to begin speaking about abortion rights, a man carrying a Palestinian flag started to shout, “How many kids have you killed?” After he appeared to have been escorted out, another woman interrupted Biden by shouting, “Israel kills two mothers every hour!”
During each interruption, the crowd on stage behind Biden started to chant, “Four more years!” and “Let’s go Joe!” Biden initially stood silently at the podium while the chants continued, but he later started to try to speak louder than the protesters.
“This is going to go on for a while,” he said after numerous interruptions. “They’ve got this planned.”
The Biden administration is under pressure from activists for its perceived support of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in Israel, whose incursion into Gaza since the deadly 7 October attacks by Hamas has led to the deaths of an estimated 25,000 Palestinians.
In New Hampshire, a campaign has been launched to encourage people to write in the word “ceasefire” on their primary ballots in protest of Biden’s support for Israel.
