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Trump seeks control of the GOP primary in New Hampshire against Nikki Haley, his last major rival

January 23, 2024

By Holly Ramer and Will Weissert, Associated Press

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Donald Trump is aiming for a commanding victory Tuesday in New Hampshire, securing a sweep of the first two Republican primary races that would make a November rematch with President Joe Biden look more likely than ever.

The biggest question is whether Trump’s last major rival, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, will be able to eat into his margin — or pull off an upset outright. Haley has dedicated significant time and financial resources to New Hampshire, hoping to appeal to its famously independent-minded electorate.

In the first results released early Tuesday, all six registered voters of tiny Dixville Notch cast their ballots for Haley over Trump. The resort town is the only one in New Hampshire this year that opted to vote at midnight.

Trump won New Hampshire’s Republican primary big during his first run for president in 2016, but some of his allies lost key races during the midterms two years ago. Haley also has to contend with an opponent who has a deep bond with the GOP base and has concentrated on winning the state decisively enough that it would effectively end the competitive phase of the Republican primary.

A dog with an American flag tie walks in the room before the First-in-the-Nation midnight vote for the New Hampshire primary elections in the Living Room of the Tillotson House at the Balsams Grand Resort in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, on January 22, 2024. New Hampshire primary’s tradition begins in the township of Dixville Notch, 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the Canadian border, where the first votes are cast right at midnight. Six of the unincorporated township’s registered voters represent the entire population of the region. (Photo by Sebastien ST-JEAN / AFP) (Photo by SEBASTIEN ST-JEAN/AFP via Getty Images)

DIXVILLE NOTCH, NEW HAMPSHIRE – JANUARY 23: Dixville Town Moderator Tom Tillotson puts a ballot into the ballot box just after midnight on January 23, 2024 in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. Dixville Notch is the only community in New Hampshire to vote at midnight during the 2024 Primary Election. (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

DIXVILLE NOTCH, NEW HAMPSHIRE – JANUARY 23: Les Otten fills out his ballot in a voting booth just after midnight on January 23, 2024 in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. Dixville Notch is the only community in New Hampshire to vote at midnight during the 2024 Primary Election. (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

Jay Gaffney takes pictures with a vintage camera before the First-in-the-Nation midnight vote for the New Hampshire primary elections in the Living Room of the Tillotson House at the Balsams Grand Resort in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, on January 22, 2024. New Hampshire primary’s tradition begins in the township of Dixville Notch, 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the Canadian border, where the first votes are cast right at midnight. Six of the unincorporated township’s registered voters represent the entire population of the region. (Photo by Sebastien ST-JEAN / AFP) (Photo by SEBASTIEN ST-JEAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Signage inside of the Tillotson House during preparations for midnight voting on January 22, 2024 in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. Dixville Notch is the only community in New Hampshire to vote at midnight on Tuesday during the 2024 Primary Election. (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

An external view of the Tillotson House during preparations for midnight voting on January 22, 2024 in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. Dixville Notch is the only community in New Hampshire to vote at midnight on Tuesday during the 2024 Primary Election. (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

The Dixville ballot box is displayed in front of voting booths in the Tillotson House during preparations for midnight voting on January 22, 2024 in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. Dixville Notch is the only community in New Hampshire to vote at midnight on Tuesday during the 2024 Primary Election. (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

A board to tally votes inside of the Tillotson House during preparations for midnight voting on January 22, 2024 in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. Dixville Notch is the only community in New Hampshire to vote at midnight on Tuesday during the 2024 Primary Election. (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

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If successful, Trump would be the first Republican presidential candidate to win open races in Iowa and New Hampshire since both states began leading the election calendar in 1976 — a clear sign of his continued grip on the party’s most-loyal voters.

Trump’s allies are already pressuring Haley to leave the race and those calls will intensify if he wins New Hampshire easily. Were she to drop out, that would effectively decide the GOP primary on its second stop, well before the vast majority of Republican voters across the country have been able to vote.

Haley has been campaigning with New Hampshire’s popular Republican governor, Chris Sununu, a Trump critic. She insists she’s in the race for the long run, telling supporters at a VFW hall in Franklin on Monday that “America does not do coronations.”

“This is about, do you have more of the same, or do you want someone who’s going to take us forward with new solutions,” Haley told reporters, also saying that, “We can either do the whole thing that we’ve always done and live in that chaos world that we’ve had, or we can go forward with no drama, no vendettas and some results for the American people.”

“This is a two-person race,” she added.

Republican presidential candidate, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks during a campaign event on January 22, 2024, in Salem, New Hampshire. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Haley and Trump were both hoping to capitalize on high-profile recent departures from the race. Haley could get a lift from some supporters of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who campaigned around decrying Trump but ended his bid shortly before Iowa’s caucus last week. Trump, meanwhile, may be able to consolidate support from conservative voters who were supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who dropped his White House bid on Sunday.

Trump, who appeared at a pre-primary rally in Laconia with one of his former primary rivals, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, was already looking ahead to being the race’s last Republican candidate. Asked during a Monday interview with Newsmax about Haley possibly abandoning her campaign after New Hampshire, the former president said he’d never call on her to do that but added, “Maybe she’ll be dropping out Tuesday.”

Scot Stebbins Sr., who attended Trump’s rally in a Make America Great Again baseball cap, called him “the greatest president we’ve had since Abraham Lincoln” adding that Trump “has done nothing but good for our nation.”

Stebbins said he thought the four criminal cases and 91 felony counts Trump is facing constituted “a witch hunt” and said Trump would “get rid of all the corrupt politicians who have been in there too long that are getting paid off.”

“He can’t be bought,” Stebbins said. “He’s a true American. He always has been.”

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump signs autographs and shakes hands with supporters at the conclusion of a campaign rally in the basement ballroom of The Margate Resort on January 22, 2024 in Laconia, New Hampshire. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Democrats were also holding a primary Tuesday, but it was unlike any in recent memory.

Biden championed new Democratic National Committee rules that have the party’s 2024 primary process beginning on Feb. 3 in South Carolina, rather than in Iowa or New Hampshire. He argued that Black voters, the party’s most reliable constituency and a critical part of his win in South Carolina that revived his 2020 primary campaign after three opening loses, should have a larger and earlier role in determining its nominee.

New Hampshire’s Democrats, citing state laws dictating that their state hold the nation’s first primary after Iowa’s caucus, defied the revamped order and pushed ahead with their primary as scheduled.

Biden didn’t campaign here and his name won’t be on the ballot, meaning the state’s Democrats can vote for the president’s two little-known major primary challengers, Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips and self-help author Marianne Williamson. Still, many of New Hampshire’s top Democrats backed a write-in campaign that they expect Biden to handily win.

Some voters who might otherwise back Democrats could also vote in the more-competitive Republican primary if they are undeclared.

Karen Padgett is an undeclared voter who saw Haley on Monday. She said she’d voted for Trump in the last two elections but didn’t plan to do so again but also is “really annoyed with Joe Biden that he kind of wrote New Hampshire off.”

Democratic challenger U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips speaks to supporters during a campaign rally on January 22, 2024 in Manchester, New Hampshire. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

“Her statement is everybody’s so old there, they’re so entrenched,” Padgett said of Haley’s promises to shake up Washington in ways that Trump pledged to, but never did. “Let’s get some new people in there.”

Instead of focusing on New Hampshire, Biden was joining Vice President Kamala in northern Virginia for a rally in defense of abortion rights, which Democrats see as a winning issue for them across the country in November.

There’s nonetheless a growing sense of inevitability around November being a reprisal of Biden versus Trump. Both men have been criticized by their opponents over age — Biden is 81, Trump 77 — and each has painted the other as woefully unfit for another White House term.

Public opinion polls suggest most Americans oppose a rematch. An AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll in December found that 56% of U.S. adults would be very or somewhat dissatisfied with Biden as the Democratic nominee — and 58% felt the same about Trump as the GOP pick.

Democratic presidential hopeful Marianne Williamson speaks during a campaign event at Teatotaller’s Cafe in Concord, New Hampshire, on January 17, 2024. ( Joseph Prezioso / AFP via Getty Images)

Some New Hampshire voters expressed similar frustration.

Jeff Caira, 66, a Republican from Sanbornton, said he was undecided in the primary but that he wanted a candidate who will tackle “the issues, rather than address the baggage that the other two candidates seem to have.”

He said he was “disappointed” that as large as the U.S. is, ”the two front-runners are the best we have to offer.”

Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Joseph Frederick in Franklin, New Hampshire, Mike Pesoli in Laconia, New Hampshire, and Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.

Orange County Register

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Trump seeks control of the GOP primary in New Hampshire against Nikki Haley, his last major rival

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