CONCORD, N.H. ― Despite facing both federal and Georgia state prosecutions related to his coup attempt, Donald Trump nevertheless beat Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, although by a narrower margin that recent polls had suggested.
The former president had been leading Haley, his own United Nations ambassador, by 16-18 points in the most recent polling. Exit poll results and early returns Tuesday evening indicate that the final margin will be smaller.
Trump, speaking at his election night party in Nashua, appeared angry that Haley was not dropping out, and instead had already taken the stage and vowed to continue her campaign.
“I don’t get angry, I get even,” he said. “You can’t let people get away with bullshit. And when I watched her in the fancydress ― that probably wasn’t so fancy ― come up, I said, ‘What’s she doing? We won.’”
He then launched into a rant filled with his familiar lies about the 2020 election having been stolen from him, including a new one that he had won the 2020 general election in New Hampshire, when in fact he had lost it by 60,000 votes or 7 percentage points.
Haley has for days insisted she would continue her campaign into South Carolina, where she was twice elected governor, regardless of the outcome in New Hampshire. Indeed, her staff has already said she will hold a rally in Charleston Wednesday night.
For Trump though, even a narrower-than-expected win is still a win, his second straight since the GOP primary contests began eight days ago in the Iowa caucuses. Trump finished 30 points ahead of both Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who a year earlier was beating Trump in both national and early state polls.
New Hampshire was the one state where Haley seemed competitive with Trump. In the next major contest, the primary in her home state of South Carolina, she trails Trump by an average 37 points. Trump also enjoys a massive lead in national polls, which will likely translate into big wins on…
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