Nikki Haley vows to fight on after Trump’s New Hampshire victory: ‘this race is far from over’ – live | US elections 2024

Jaime Harrison, chair of the Democratic National Committee, said that South Carolina voters will not turn out for Nikki Haley in her homestate’s Democratic and Republican open primaries next month, tweeting:

“[South Carolina] Democrats know Nikki Haley very well & as the former chair of the state Democratic party, I can tell you that we haven’t forgotten her voter suppressing, abortion banning, Medicaid expansion blocking, union busting, rural hospital closing, confederate flag apologizing leadership. So not a no, but a Hell No!”

Vivek Ramaswamy, the biotech entrepreneur who dropped out of the 2024 presidential race earlier this month, took another swipe at Nikki Haley last night as he appeared on stage last night alongside Donald Trump in New Hampshire.

“What we see right now with her continuing in this race is the ugly underbelly of American politics – where the mega donors are trying to do one thing when we the people say another,” Trump’s former rival said.

Throughout the campaign trail, Ramaswamy repeatedly attacked Haley, at one point calling her a “fascist neocon” with lipstick.

RNC chair: ‘I don’t see it for Nikki Haley’

Nate Cohn’s analysis in the New York Times is that Nikki Haley has now missed her best shot to change the trajectory of the Republican contest. He writes:

Trump’s 12-point margin of victory is not extraordinarily impressive in its own right. In fact, he won by a smaller margin than many pre-election polls suggested.

What makes Trump’s victory so important – and what raises the question about whether the race is over – is that New Hampshire was Haley’s best opportunity to change the trajectory of the race. It was arguably her best opportunity to win a state, period. If she couldn’t win here, she might not be able to win anywhere.

In the Washington Post, Maeve Reston and Ashley Parker write that Trump’s juggernaut has rolled on, despite Haley’s campaign insisting they live to fight another day. They write:

The New Hampshire voters who could have lifted Haley to victory instead chose Trump and made her long-shot bid even longer. Haley had performed better than predicted by some pre-election polling, but it was a decisive loss nonetheless.

Haley’s campaign insists that as many as a dozen remaining states – including Michigan and many of those that cast ballots in the Super Tuesday contests 5 March – offer “fertile ground” for Haley, because they are open or semi-open primaries where independents are allowed to vote.

Nikki Haley is set to continue her campaign later today by visiting the US Virgin Islands and South Carolina later today. Donald Trump flew back to Florida after his victory speech last night.

Dean Phillips, a Democratic congressman from Minnesota, and Marianne Williamson, an author and self-help guru who ran for president in 2020, were among the potential challengers to Joe Biden on the Democratic primary ticket in New Hampshire. Biden took the vote after a write-in campaign, and neither Phillips nor Williamson made significant in-roads.

Jared Gans writes this for the Hill about Phillips:

Phillips centered his long-shot attempt to oppose Biden’s renomination on New Hampshire, having filed there first when launching his candidacy. If there was anywhere for Phillips to see the most success, the Granite State was likely to be it.

Phillips had the opportunity to repeatedly criticize Biden for not campaigning for the support of New Hampshire voters and emphasize his electability argument.

But those arguments seemed to have fallen mostly flat. Phillips barely received more than 20% of the vote, while the other notable longshot, Williamson, received less than 5%.

Ahead of the primary, Phillips declared that reaching the 20s would be “quite extraordinary”. But he was only able to get a fraction of Biden’s percentage even with the incumbent not on the ballot – and he is about to experience a more contested primary starting in about 10 days.

Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist and CNN political commentator, argues today that the New Hampshire result ultimately doesn’t present good news for Donald Trump. He writes:

Trump lost a stunning two-thirds of New Hampshire voters who are not in either political party, according to initial results from a CNN exit poll. In Iowa, 43% of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s supporters said they would vote for President Joe Biden against Trump.

Where Reagan-Bush Republicans stood for limited government, strong national defense, and traditional family values, Trump added about $8tn to the national debt, disdains Nato, and has been found by a jury of his peers to be civilly liable for sexual abuse (which he has denied).

Trump’s challenge, now that the nomination fight is effectively over, will be to appeal to voters who are turned off by his cult of personality. His angry, bitter speech Tuesday night was a terrible beginning for the general election. Did the grievance-filled rant against Haley sound like a winner to you? No, it sounded like a guy who is in deep doo-doo with independents. This is a potential disaster for Trump.

While Nikki Haley’s home state of South Carolina on 24 February is the next big date on the horizon, the campaign does have a slightly odd detour into Nevada first.

For the Democratic party, it is quite straightforward. There is a primary on 6 February, and Joe Biden is expected to win it.

For Republicans, it is more complicated. A state-run primary happens on 6 February, but it is non-binding. Instead, a subsequent Republican caucus organised by the party on 8 February will choose who gets the state’s 26 delegates.

Why?

Because Nevada passed a law in 2021 requiring that the state organise primaries, but the Republicans have chosen to stick to organising a caucus. Nevada’s Republicans also made it a rule that anybody participating in the primary cannot participate in the caucus.

The outcome of that is Nikki Haley’s name will be on the ballot for the 6 February primary, and will receive no delegates for her campaigning efforts. Donald Trump will participate in the caucus, essentially without any opposition, and will be awarded the delegates.

Eric Bradner at CNN writes that it is difficult to see where a Nikki Haley victory is coming from, despite them promising big spending. He said:

What is not clear is where Haley could actually notch a victory against Trump. She isn’t participating in the Nevada caucuses on 8 February (she will instead be on the state’s primary ballot, which won’t lead to her winning any delegates), and polls in her home state of South Carolina – where the 24 February primary will be the next major showdown – show Trump with a huge lead.

Haley is likely to face immense pressure to depart the race in coming days. She’ll face questions about whether she’ll follow a path similar to Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, who vowed to continue on after his second-place finish in last week’s Iowa caucuses – and then he dropped out days later.

Haley’s campaign said Tuesday it is placing $4m in television advertising reservations in South Carolina. She has also scheduled a rally Wednesday night in North Charleston.

Mark Harris, executive director of the pro-Haley Super Pac SFA Fund, told CNN the group is “on to South Carolina” and plan to spend millions on ads, mail and more.

We do have a handy timeline of how the US election process will unfold this year – however you can’t help but think the section between South Carolina on 24 February and election day on 5 November may all turn out to be superfluous, as by the end of next month we may well find ourselves fully into a Trump v Biden rematch campaign.

If you’d like to listen to something about the campaign, in the final episode of our special three-part podcast series from New Hampshire, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Lauren Gambino and Semafor’s David Weigel about whether or not Haley actually has reason to be positive.

You can listen to it here: Haley vows to fight on despite Trump win in New Hampshire – podcast

In the New York Times’ opinion columns overnight, despite her protestations, Frank Bruni can’t see anything but the end of the road for the Nikki Haley campaign. He writes:

A wishful narrative took shape: New Hampshire’s quirky voters would buck Iowans and back Haley. Independents would overwhelm the Maga minions. She’d notch an upset victory and then, all across a Trump-pummeled land, voters would suddenly realize that they had an alternative, suddenly recognize polls that showed Haley with a better chance in a one-on-one contest against President Biden than Trump had. They would come to their senses. And on the far side of that epiphany gleamed Haley, her youth, ethnic background and gender giving the Republican Party a new vitality. A new image. A fresh start. What a lovely illusion. It just shattered.

Here is our video report with a clip of Donald Trump making his victory speech last night after the New Hampshire primary.

David Smith was in Nashua, New Hampshire for the Guardian, and had this analysis of Trump’s speech, saying:

The former US president had followed up his record win in the Iowa caucuses with victory over Nikki Haley, his former ambassador to the UN, with a double-digit triumph in less favourable political territory. As Republican politicians and donors scramble to jump aboard the Trump train, it is clearly game over for the Never Trumpers.

Trump could have been magnanimous in victory and congratulated Haley on a race well run. Instead, he was palpably irked by her refusal to drop out of the race. Petty and vindictive, he became a playground bully punching down for the benefit of an audience that glories in metaphorical violence.

Addressing a crowded hotel ballroom in Nashua, he gave Haley a dark warning: “Just a little note to Nikki. She’s not going to win. But if she did, she would be under investigation by those people in 15 minutes, and I could tell you five reasons why already. Not big reasons, little stuff that she doesn’t want to talk about.”

David Smith also had this to say on Nikki Haley’s campaign:

Haley now stands alone in a Republican party that belongs to him. Did she ever have a chance? Perhaps she could have done more to make it a choice rather than a coronation.

Haley could have emphasised her spouse’s military record and gone after Trump on his description of fallen solders as “losers” and “suckers”. She could have celebrated her identity as a daughter of Indian immigrants to contrast herself with Trump’s bigotry, nativism and racism. She could have played up her gender and what masterstroke it would be for Republicans, not Democrats, to produce America’s first female president after nearly 250 years.

But none of these are deemed viable in today’s party. Instead, when Haley did go bold and against the grain, it was on foreign policy, ardently pro-Israel and anti-Russia, and constantly bashing China. It was never going to win many extra votes but it was sure to alienate the isolationist “America First” wing of the party.

Read more of David Smith’s analysis from Nashua, New Hampshire: Trump turns into sinister playground bully in New Hampshire victory lap

Joe Biden wins New Hampshire’s Democratic primary with write-in votes

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Nikki Haley vows to fight on after Trump’s victory in New Hampshire

Donald Trump comfortably wins New Hampshire Republican primary

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