According to television projections and more than 60% of the ballots counted, Donald Trump won approximately 54% of the votes during the Republican primary in New Hampshire against 44% for his former ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley.
If she immediately congratulated the former tenant of the White House (2017-2021) for her victory in this small northeastern state where she made a good showing and has a number of supporters, Nikki Haley affirmed that “the race ( was) far from finished. And she warned her Republican camp that “a Trump inauguration would be a victory for Biden” on November 5.
Donald Trump determined to take revenge
Since his defeat in November 2020, which he never admitted to President Biden and while he faces four criminal trials this year, Donald Trump is determined to take revenge on his Democratic rival.
In a “victory” speech, the real estate tycoon who in ten years has turned American democracy upside down, once again mocked his only competitor whom he urged to withdraw. At 77, he once again attacked President Biden, 81, “the worst in the history” of the United States, “a country in decline and failing”.
The Biden campaign team acknowledged that with his victory in New Hampshire, Donald Trump had “virtually locked the nomination by the Republican Party”. In fact, “it is now a two-way race between Trump and Biden,” summarized analyst Keith Nahigian, formerly of the businessman’s team, for AFP.
“Relatively good for Nikki Haley”
“Biden is going to be swept away, he is finished,” says a Trumpist voter from New York, Luis Ferre, 72, who came specially to support his candidate in New Hampshire. To face Joe Biden on November 5, Donald Trump will have to be invested this summer by his party’s convention, at the end of all the primaries in the American states against Nikki Haley, if she maintains.
The tycoon had already won the first primary in Iowa on January 15 and, in the past, all the candidates who won the first two votes were nominated by the party. The New Hampshire primaries saw “very strong participation” according to local authorities.
The rallying of Donald Trump this weekend by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, once considered his main Republican rival, brought the leading trio back to a duel. If the battle is very unequal, political analyst Aron Salomon admitted to AFP that it was “a relatively good Tuesday evening for the supporters of Nikki Haley”, who is trying to rally moderate Republicans and independents.
“Democracy at stake”
The former governor of South Carolina, a state which will vote in its Republican primaries on February 24, criticizes the former very right-wing populist president of spreading “chaos”, alluding to multiple criminal prosecutions in particular for illicit attempts to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election.
In recent days, Nikki Haley has also questioned her “declining” cognitive abilities after comments in which Mr. Trump seemed to confuse her with the former Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. A shame for Donald Trump, who makes fun of Joe Biden, his age and his blunders, even imitating his sometimes hesitant approach during his meetings.
On the Democratic side, Joe Biden also won the Democratic primary in New Hampshire. The host of the White House was campaigning in Virginia, near Washington, with his vice-president Kamala Harris, on the theme of the right to abortion, accusing Donald Trump of wanting “at all costs” to restrict it ever more.
And after the announcement of his rival’s victory, Joe Biden warned that democracy was “at stake”, another major campaign argument from the president. New Hampshire only represents 22 delegates, out of 1,215 needed to be officially designated the Republican candidate. But compared to more conservative states, it gives a better indication of possible national electoral success and subsequent primaries, notably “Super Tuesday” on March 5.