Former President Donald Trump moved another step closer to the GOP nomination, easily winning the New Hampshire primary, finishing with nearly 55% of the vote.
The Associated Press called the primary for Trump as soon as the polls had closed in New Hampshire.
With more than 90% of the votes in, Trump finished with 54.8% of the vote, while Nikki Haley took 43.2%, according to The New York Times. The newspaper predicted that after the final numbers were tallied Trump would defeat the former South Carolina governor by 11 percentage points.
“When you win Iowa and you win New Hampshire, they’ve never had a loss — there’s never been — so we’re not going to be the first, I can tell you,” the former president told supporters, per the NYT.
“She had to win,” Trump said, referring to Haley, per CNN. “She failed badly.”
Haley rushed to speak to her supporters as soon as the AP had called the race for Trump, according to the NYT.
“New Hampshire is first in the nation — it is not the last in the nation,” she declared, per the NYT. “This race is far from over.”
“You can’t fix the mess if you don’t win an election,” she said. “A Trump nomination is a Biden win and a Kamala Harris presidency.”
Trump called Haley “delusional” in a social media post as she spoke, later telling his supporters that she was an “imposter” who had lost “so badly.”
“She didn’t win. She lost,” Trump said, per the NYT. “This is not your typical victory speech, but let’s not let somebody take a victory when she had a very bad night.”
Haley vowed to fight on.
“There are dozens of states left to go,” she said on Tuesday night, per the NYT. “And the next one is my sweet state of South Carolina.”
Taylor Budowich, chief executive of Trump’s super PAC said, “It’s time to drop out,” per the NYT.
Even those who have been critical of the former president, such as Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), showed support for him following his victory.
“Republicans need to unite around a single candidate,” said Cornyn, per the NYT.
According to exit polling conducted by CNN, some 74% of registered Republicans who voted in the primary on Tuesday evening supported the former president, with only 24% supporting Haley. In New Hampshire, however, undeclared residents who are not members of the Republican Party or the Democratic Party are allowed to vote using one of the two-party ballots presented.
Among undeclared voters polled, according to CNN, Haley was favored by 66%, and Trump had the support of 32%.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Trump handily won the Iowa Caucus last week, trouncing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Haley, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy by a wide margin. Ramaswamy dropped out of the race that evening and endorsed Trump. DeSantis announced on Sunday that he was suspending his campaign and endorsing Trump.