Trump triumphs in New Hampshire  primary, leaving Haley in shadows

Ex-US president Donald Trump strikes second straight victory in his quest for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Trump won Iowa's leadoff caucuses by 30 percentage points.  / Photo: AFP
AFP

Trump won Iowa's leadoff caucuses by 30 percentage points.  / Photo: AFP

Donald Trump has won the New Hampshire's GOP primary, delivering a setback to rival Nikki Haley, who is running out of time to establish herself as a viable alternative to him.

Tuesday's was his second straight victory in his quest for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. He won Iowa's leadoff caucuses by 30 percentage points.

Allies of President Joe Biden, meanwhile, are hoping their write-in campaign on the Democratic side is successful. Polls closed statewide at 8 pm [local time].

Haley finished second in New Hampshire to Trump, a setback in her effort to reset the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

The former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor, who invested significant time and financial resources in the state, ramped up her criticism of Trump after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race and she became the sole GOP alternative to him.

But the appeal ultimately failed to resonate with enough voters, and she's in a weakened position heading into a primary in her home state.

"I want to congratulate Donald Trump," Haley told supporters after TV networks quickly projected the result. Haley then vowed she would fight on, saying "this race is far from over."

Haley also said making Trump the Republican candidate is a "Biden win".

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Biden campaigns on abortion

New Hampshire Democrats also voted for their standard-bearer on Tuesday, defying a national party order to hold the primary later.

Biden did not file candidate paperwork, but supporters have pledged to write his name in, hoping that even without campaigning he will convincingly beat Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips and self-help author Marianne Wil liamson.

Biden marked the day by campaigning alongside Vice President Kamala Harris in Virginia at a rally for abortion rights.

With Trump touting his role in the ending of the constitutional right to abortion, Biden told an enthusiastic crowd that the Republican was "hell-bent" on further restrictions.

Biden campaign: Trump has 'all but locked up' Republican nomination Trump's primary victory means he will almost certainly become the Republican Party's 2024 nominee, President Biden's reelection campaign said.

"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," Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.

Trump, with his "extreme agenda" that has previously cost Republicans in elections, "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."

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