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Nikki Haley, the last Republican standing against Trump, was defiant when she addressed her supporters.
Former President Donald Trump continued his march toward the 2024 Republican presidential nomination with a win in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday.
Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and former ambassador to the United Nations, was the last challenger left in the race and hoping to boost her campaign with a good showing in independent-minded, New Hampshire, but major media outlets called the race for Trump about 15 minutes after polls closed at 8 p.m. local time. When that happened, Trump had about 53 percent of the vote and Haley 47 percent.
Haley, however, has vowed to stay in the race. Addressing supporters in New Hampshire, she noted that the state’s primary was first in the nation, not the last, and there was much of the campaign left to go. (Last week Iowa held its caucus, which is different from a primary.) She emphasized that the next Republican primary will be in her home state of South Carolina, on February 24.
She congratulated Trump on his win and said she agreed with many of his policies but was running to stop the chaos he would bring. “You can’t fix Joe Biden’s chaos with Republican chaos,” she said, and she claimed Trump is the only Republican that Biden could beat.
“Most Americans do not want a rematch between Biden and Trump,” she said, slamming both men’s age — Trump is 77, Biden 81 — and called out Trump for recently confusing her with former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. She also contended that a Biden victory means a Kamala Harris presidency, implying that Biden is not really in charge.
“Our fight is not over because we have a country to save,” she added.
Haley may not be as bombastic as Trump, but her ideology is just as right-wing — anti-LGBTQ+, anti-immigrant, anti-reproductive rights, supporting lower taxes, downplaying climate change. She and most of the other Republican presidential hopefuls have been vocally anti-transgender during the campaign, particularly denouncing gender-affirming care for trans youth.
Haley has gone so far as to call trans girls’ participation in girls’ sports the most pressing women’s rights issue of the day and falsely blame it for suicidal ideation among cisgender teenage girls. She also once criticized Florida's "don't say gay" law as not going far enough.
Trump bested both Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the Iowa caucus, with businessman Vivek Ramaswamy a distant fourth. DeSantis and Ramaswamy both then dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump. Some other contenders who’ve dropped out, including U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, endorsed Trump earlier.
Trump addressed his supporters Tuesday night as well, and he criticized Haley for staying in the race. “She had a very bad night,” he said. “She came in third [in Iowa], and she’s still hanging around.” The former president, who has been charged with numerous crimes, alleged that Haley would be under investigation by law enforcement if she'd won and that DeSantis would likewise face investigation if he hadn't left the race. He did not say what they'd be investigated for.
He also repeated the lie that he and not Biden won the 2020 presidential election. Indeed, his speech was riddled with falsehoods, including a claim that Democrats want to raise income taxes fourfold. And he claimed he's always won New Hampshire, in both primary and general elections, which is not true. He has won every Republican primary he's entered there, but he lost the state in the general election in 2016 and again in 2020. CNN has an extensive fact check of his victory speech.
Scott appeared with Trump and called for party unity. “It is time for the Republican Party to coalesce around our nominee and the next president of United States: Donald Trump. Let’s get that party started tonight,” Scott said.
Biden did not appear on the Democratic Party's primary ballot in New Hampshire, as the party decided to make South Carolina the site of its first presidential primary. Biden's victory in the South Carolin primary in 2020, giving a much-needed boost to his campaign. But New Hampshire held a Democratic primary Tuesday anyway, and party activists encouraged voters to write in Biden's name, which most voters did, giving him an easy victory over challengers Dean Phillips, who is a congressman from Minnesota, and writer Marianne Williamson.
Biden issued a statement thanking those who wrote in his name, adding, "It is now clear that Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee. And my message to the country is the stakes could not be higher."
His campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, also released a statement. “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,” she said. “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.”
