2024 New Hampshire Republican Primary LIVE: Updates, news and results as Donald Trump and Nikki Haley battle it out in the crucial state

Donald Trump won New Hampshire’s first in-the-nation primary on Tuesday night, giving him his second victory in a row in the battle for the Republican presidential nomination.

The call came shortly after polls closed at 8 p.m. ET and a week after his victory in the Iowa caucuses. Trump is the first GOP candidate in almost 50 years to sweep both contests, an indication of his iron grip on the Republican party.

He and his team have been using his victories to pressure Nikki Haley to drop out of the presidential race.

Senior Texas Sen. John Cornyn endorsed Donald Trump – becoming the most senior GOP senator to do so.

He wrote on X the former president is clearly the voters’ top pick and the candidate he is supporting in 2024.

‘I have seen enough,’ the Texan posted on X. ‘To beat Biden, Republicans need to unite around a single candidate, and it’s clear that President Trump is Republican voters’ choice.’

‘Four more years of failed domestic policies like the Biden Border Crisis and record-high inflation, and failed foreign policies that have emboldened our adversaries and made the world a more dangerous place, must be stopped.’

‘I am proud of our accomplishments in President Trump’s first term, including the confirmation of 234 federal judges, including three members of the United States Supreme Court; passing historic tax reform, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; unleashing our energy potential; and ushering in the best economy for all Americans in my lifetime,’ the statement said.

Over half of Republican senators have backed Trump, but notably not GOP Leader Mitch McConnell.

Trump reacted to his win in New Hampshire by immediately attacking Nikki Haley – who plans to stay in the race.

‘SHE JUST LOST NEVADA, WHICH IS UP NEXT!’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform in his first reaction to the New Hampshire results.

He added in a separate post noting that Haley came in third in the Iowa caucuses last week.

‘This race is far from over. There are dozens of states left to go,’ Haley told supporters Tuesday evening.

She said she plans to head down to South Carolina – which is the next early voting state on the agenda at the end of February.

Nevada will follow South Carolina on the calendar.

Trump is heading to campaign in Nevada after leaving New Hampshire, according to his campaign.

Speaker Mike Johnson congratulated Trump on his New Hampshire victory:

‘Congratulations to President Trump on his decisive victory tonight in America’s first-in-the-nation primary!” he said. “Our House Republican leaders and a majority of Republican Senators support his reelection, and Republican voters in Iowa and New Hampshire have strongly backed him at the polls. It’s now past time for the Republican Party to unite around President Trump so we can focus on ending the disastrous Biden presidency and growing our majority in Congress.’

‘I want to congratulate Donald Trump on his victory He earned it, and I want to acknowledge that,’ Haley said after the race was called for Trump.

‘You have all heard the chatter among the political class. They are falling all over themselves, saying this race is over,’ she continued.

‘This race is far from over. There are dozens of states left to go.’

‘And the next one is my sweet state of South Carolina,’ she said to cheers ringing out in the crowd.

The leader of Make America Great Again Inc. issued a statement slamming Nikki Haley for helping Biden’s campaign.

‘Nikki Haley said she’s running to stop the re-election of Harris-Biden,’ said Taylor Budowich, CEO of MAGA Inc. ‘Yet, without a viable path to victory, every day she stays in this race is another day she delivers to the Harris-Biden campaign.’

‘It’s time for unity, it’s time to take the fight to the Democrats, and for Nikki Haley: it’s time to drop out,’ the statement continued.

President Joe Biden won Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary despite not being on the ballot.

CNN projected Biden’s win moments after polls closed in the state at 8 p.m.

Democrats in the Granite State launched a write-in campaign to propel the president to victory after the Democratic National Committee, with Biden’s blessing, reordered this year’s Democratic primaries.

South Carolina is holding the first official Democratic primary on February 3. But New Hamsphire law and the state’s Republican-led government wouldn’t allow the first-in-the-nation primary date to be moved, forcing Democrats to go to the polls Tuesday.

They could choose to write-in Biden or pick one of his rivals, Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips or self-help guru Marianne Williamson.

Former President Donald Trump took the lead over his former Amb. Nikki Haley as the final polls closed during Tuesday’s first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire.

Trump is polling at 54 percent and Haley at 44 percent with only 16 percent of votes counted at 8 p.m. ET – when the rest of the polls closed down.

The majority of polls closed at 7 p.m. ET and the rest officially closed at 8 p.m. ET.

The Granite State is well known for its beautiful gorges, flumes, forests and peaks, but may be lesser known for these five towns that could very well decide tonight’s primary results.

As voters wait for the results to roll in, a look at the 2016 New Hampshire primary could give insights into tonight

• This city of 115,000 largely broke for Trump in 2016
• It is the largest city in the state
• 2016 primary result: Trump 37 percent, Kasich 13 percent

• One of the state’s largest Democrat strongholds
• It is the state’s capital and is home to 44,000 residents
• 2016 primary result: Trump 29 percent, Kasich 22 percent

• It is a mostly Republican area that borders Massachusetts
• Trump won decisively here in the 2020 general election
• 2016 primary result: Trump 48 percent, Cruz 10 percent

• Nikki Haley needs to pick off some Biden voters from this area
• The town is becoming increasingly blue
• 2016 primary result: Trump 26 percent, Kasich 24 percent

• Trump won this town in both the 2016 and 2020 general election
• Trump stopped in neighboring Londonderry earlier today
• 2016 primary result: Trump 42 percent, Cruz 12 percent

GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who is rumored to be a potential VP pick for Trump, wished him an early congratulations on victory – before the race had been called.

‘This evening, Granite Staters also overwhelmingly rejected Nikki Haley and her Extreme Democrat and Never Trump donors,’ her statement said.

She called him the ‘first GOP candidate to win both Iowa and New Hampshire,’ since he is the first non-incumbent to do so.

New Hampshire GOP primary voters are evenly split (49-49) when asked if Biden legitimately won the 2020 election, as compared to Iowa where only 29 percent said yes, according to NBC exit polling.

Early reporting shows Trump and Haley are neck and neck as results roll in.

The majority of polls closed at 7 p.m. ET and the rest will close at 8 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press had Trump at 51 percent and Haley at 48 percent with only 4 percent of votes counted.

Trump is hoping to have another landslide victory after his 30-point victory last Monday in the Iowa caucuses.

Haley is the only rival standing after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dramatically dropped out of the race Sunday.

Rep. Dean Phillips and his long-shot campaign have quite the spread of food and booze at their election night headquarters in Concord.

On the Democratic side President Joe Biden is not on the ballot and the DNC will not be awarding delegates to New Hampshire’s winner due to the state’s decision to defy its new primary schedule, making a Democratic win their purely symbolic.

Trump sounded off about New Hampshire’s semi-closed primary on Truth Social.

‘SO RIDICULOUS THAT DEMOCRATS AND INDEPENDENTS ARE ALLOWED TO VOTE IN THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARY, ESPECIALLY SINCE CROOKED JOE BIDEN HAS ABANDONED NEW HAMPSHIRE—BUT WORD IS WE ARE DOING REALLY WELL!!!’ he wrote.

Registered Republicans and Independents, who make up around 40 percent of New Hampshire’s voting bloc, can vote in the primary. Moderates and left-leaning independents favor Haley over Trump.

President Joe Biden wants his deputy chief of staff, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, to lead his 2024 re-election bid, according to a New York Times report.

O’Malley Dillon, who previously served as Biden’s 2020 campaign manager before shifting to a role in his White House, will take over control of the campaign, five sources familiar with the matter told the Times.

It is not yet known what role Julie Chávez Rodríguez, the current campaign manager, will take following the move.

The dramatic shakeup comes immediately before the New Hampshire primary and as Trump has taken a decisive lead in many national polls.

The rest of the polls will be closed by 8 p.m. ET.

Former President Donald Trump is hoping to have another landslide victory after his 30-point victory last Monday in the Iowa caucuses.

His former U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley is the only rival standing after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dramatically dropped out of the race Sunday.

She’s keeping her fingers crossed for an upset, or a close second, in a state that’s filled with independent-minded voters, who often choose a different candidate than the Iowa caucus winner.

Around half of New Hampshire Republicans believe Trump is fit for office if he is convicted of a crime, according to CBS exit polling.

That’s lower than Iowa, where roughly two-thirds of caucus-goers said Trump would be fit for office even if convicted.

The former president currently faces 91 felony counts across four different criminal cases.

Immigration is top of mind for New Hampshire Republicans, with 41 percent saying it is the most important issue facing the country, according to Fox News voter analysis.

Following immigration is jobs/economy at 31 percent, foreign policy at eight percent and abortion at five percent.

Similarly in Iowa last week, 4 in 10 Republicans said immigration was the number one issue.

Dan Eberhart was one of Ron DeSantis’ backers from the start, urging him to jump into the race early to try to head off Trump.

Today he fell in behind Donald Trump, endorsing him on CNN.

He swapped messages with DailyMail.com’s Rob Crilly to explain his decision.

‘Trump has united the Republican Party and is better than Biden on nearly every issue,’ he said. ‘Rob, what other play is there?’

Only 47 per cent of those voting in the New Hampshire Republican primary actually identify as Republicans, exit polls showed.

The rest described themselves as Independents, with a small number of Democrats.

In 2016 the proportion identifying as Republican was 55 per cent.

That difference is being viewed by some observers as an encouraging early sign for Nikki Haley.

Exit polls showed the economy is the most important issue for 34 percent of voters.

Immigration was most important for 31 percent.

Of the remainder 17 percent said foreign policy.

The CNN exit poilling showed an even split between those who believe Joe Biden won the 2020 eletion fairly, and those who do not.

The polling showed 49 percent believed Biden won legitimately, and 49 percent believed he did not.

CNN exit polling suggests 31 percent of voters in the primary identify as ‘moderate’.

That compares to 24 percent identifying as ‘very conservative’.

Of the rest 39 percent said they were ‘conservative’ and 6 percent were ‘liberal’.

The number of voters who identified as ‘moderate’ in the Iowa caucuses was 9 percent.

‘We are funded, and we are going to be able to fight through in South Carolina,’ Mark Harris, SFA Fund’s top strategist reportedly told reporters Tuesday.

He suggested there may be new ads in support of Haley dropping in the state as early as this week.

‘Our goal was always to get to a two-person race by South Carolina. So the fact that that happened is a huge win for us,’ he said according to CNN.

He said the PAC – SFA Fund – has raised millions of dollars since the Iowa caucuses last week.

He added that SFA Fund will support Haley for however long she remains in the race.

A CNN early exit poll in New Hampshire shows that 32 percent of voters identify as part of the Trump-inspired ‘MAGA’ movement, while 64 percent do not.

In addition, the party breakdown of voters has been revealed.

• 49 percent: Registered Republican
• 47 percent: Registered Undeclared
• 3 percent: Unregistered before today

A Democratic voter for Rep. Dean Phillips told DailyMail.com’s Katelyn Caralle on the ground in New Hampsire that Biden has ‘run his course.’

Stephen, 22, a Democratic campaign field director said he voted for Nikki Haley.

‘I’m undeclared, but I am a Democrat,’ he added.

When asked why he didn’t write-in Joe Biden he said he ‘felt like it would be a waste of a vote.’

‘I don’t think that Dean Phillips has a chance, but Nikki Haley was the best vote to oppose Trump in this election,’ Stephen continued.

Sharon, 85, and a Democrat told DailyMail.com she wrote-in Joe Biden.

She was a little annoyed about it because she feels ‘snubbed.’

‘What the hell is that all about? I do feel snubbed. He didn’t rate New Hampshire.
He didn’t register for the primary in New Hampshire.’

‘I think it’s awful. I mean, listen, I was very close to not voting for him for that reason. I mean, I really, really was. But there were no other good options,’ she added.

Dean Phillips was a strong ‘no’ vote in Sharon’s book.

Donald Trump on Tuesday shrugged off Nikki Haley’s vow to stay in the presidential race no matter how she does in New Hampshire’s primary, saying he was ‘confident’ of his victory.

‘I’m very confident,’ he said Tuesday afternoon during an unannounced stop at a polling place in Londonberry, N.H.

‘Let her do whatever she wants, it doesn’t matter,’ he added.

Trump also predicted Haley’s wish to have a two-person race – him and her – would actually hurt her chances in the state’s first-in-the-nation primary.

The president chose to campaign in Virginia today.

He is focusing on abortion rights, a key policy plank of his reelection bid, DailyMail.com’s Geoff Earle reports.

President Joe Biden isn’t on the ballot for the Democratic primary in New Hampshire on Tuesday but there are signs of him everywhere thanks to his supporters who have amassed a massive write-in campaign on his behalf.

Biden opted not to file his candidacy after the Democratic National Committee said the state was violating its rules by holding its primary ahead of South Carolina’s contest, which the party deemed would be first in the 2024 primary cycle.

That means Biden’s name is not listed among the 21 Democrats appearing on the New Hampshire ballot, names that include Rep. Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson, both of whom are running strong campaigns in the state.

DailyMail.com’s Katelyn Caralle spoke with New Hampshire voters at New Franklin Elementary School in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Here are their voting breakdowns:

• Five for Nikki Haley
• Five wrote-in Joe Biden
• Four voted for Dean Phillips
• Zero for Donald Trump

Ramaswamy says he’s been to a number of diners to get the vote out.

He says people are ‘seeing the light’ and Donald Trump is the ‘man to lead us’.

The former candidate, who has endorsed Trump, says the race could be over tonight.

The New Hampshire weather is proving a vast improvement over the record-setting cold of last week’s for Iowa caucuses.

Temperatures in New Hampshire on Tuesday started out in the low 20s and reached 30s by early afternoon.

That was much warmer than the last few days when temperatures struggled to get out of the teens.

Some light snow was possible Tuesday night, around the time that polls close.

Iowa’s January 15 vote was the lowest-turnout caucuses in a quarter-century.

The high temperature in the capital city, Des Moines, that day was 1 degree Fahrenheit, with the temperature falling to minus 17 by sundown.

Voting across the state was going smoothly with steady turnout into the early afternoon, according to Secretary of State spokesperson Anna Sventek.

Assistant Attorney General Brendan O’Donnell, head of the department’s Election Law Unit, agreed, saying it was a ‘great morning’ with ‘no major issues’.

O’Donnell said his office was dealing with ‘typical complaints’ from some voters who were affiliated with one party and wanted to vote in the other party’s primary.

Such complaints come in every year, he said.

Registered Democrats or Republicans who wanted to switch their party affiliation for this election would have had to do so by a deadline in October.

There were also some isolated issues with accessible voting machines and electioneering in polling locations that were being resolved, he said.

Rallying support for Donald Trump in Londonderry, New Hampshire, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said the state’s primary will mark a shift in the GOP.

‘The big message is this is a referendum on the Republican party, and it’s been coming,’ she said.

‘Republican voters, and I would argue many Americans, are sick and tired of uni-party Republicans,’ she added.

‘President Trump ended the Bush dynasty in 2016, he ended the Clinton dynasty in 2016, and were going to see a complete and total end to that when Nikki Haley is defeated,’ Greene continued.

Nikki Haley’s campaign maintains she will stay until after Super Tuesday on March 5.

Betsy Ankney, her camapign manager, pointed out that in South Carolina, the next state to vote, there is no party registration.

That means anyone who does not vote in the Democratic primary on February 3 could vote in the Republican one later in the month.

More significantly, she said, 11 of the 16 states that vote on Super Tuesday have ‘open or semi-open primaries’.

That means they can include independent voters and are therefore ‘fertile ground for Nikki’.

‘Until then, everyone should take a deep breath,” Ms Ankney said. ‘The campaign has not even begun in any of these states yet.

‘No ads have been aired and candidates aren’t hustling on the ground. A month in politics is a lifetime.’

Ms Ankney cited Virginia, Texas, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina and Vermont as Super Tuesday states with ‘favorable demographics’ for Haley.

‘After Super Tuesday, we will have a very good picture of where this race stands,” she said.

One New Hampshire man thought about voting for Nikki Haley but then decided this morning to vote for Trump, reasoning the former president will be the GOP nominee.

‘I changed my vote this morning,” the man told MSNBC. ‘Instead of voting for Haley, I voted for Donald Trump.’

‘I think the primary is over,’ he continued. ‘I think that Mr. Trump is going to be our next candidate.’

A 70-year-old voter in New Hampshire wrote in Joe Biden’s name on the primary election ballot Tuesday.

The voter, Morgan, told DailyMail.com’s Katelyn Caralle that she is pushing to get Biden a victory – despite his name not being on the ballot.

Early last year, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), ended a century-long tradition to have New Hampshire be the first Democratic primary.

The DNC instead made South Carolina the first Democratic primary state for 2024.

Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, 49, took a shot at Trump’s cognitive ability Tuesday after the former president insulted him after an appearance on Fox News.

Trump, 77, wrote on his TruthSocial app that Sununu is a ‘loser’ and questioned why Fox News would give the governor airtime.

‘Every time I mention [Sununu’s] name at a Rally, they BOOO like crazy,’ Trump posted.

In response, Sununu thanked the former president for watching and suggested that Trump ‘try subtitles next time’ because ‘I suppose it’s tough keeping up with the conversation given your advanced age.’

The New Hampshire attorney general’s office is investigating a fraudulent robocall that is mimicking the voice of President Joe Biden.

It advises supporters to stay home during the Democrat vote today where he faces challenges from Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips and self-help guru Marianne Williamson.

The call starts out by saying ‘What a bunch of malarkey,’ a trademark Biden phrase.

Voters are then told: ‘It’s important that you save your vote for the November election.

‘Voting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again.

Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.’

Donald Trump shared his excitment as voters lined up to the New Hampshire polls throughout the morning.

‘The level of Excitement and Enthusiasm in New Hampshire is incredible.’ the former president said on Truth Social.

‘They want STRONG BORDERS, A GREAT ECONOMY WITH NO INFLATION, LOW TAXES & REGULATIONS, A POWERFUL MILITARY, ENERGY INDEPENDENCE, & JUST PLAIN COMMON SENSE. WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

A memo distributed by Nikki Haley’s campaign Tuesday highlighted how the only female candidate outlasted 12 other ‘fellas’ despite many writing her campaign off.

‘No one thought we had a shot. No one thought we could get it done,’ the memo, from Betsy Ankney, Haley’s campaign manager, said. ‘And here we are, $50 million dollars raised, over 200 stops, and 12 fellas later, and Nikki’s still standing.’

‘The choice voters face is clear. Do they want to focus on the past, or do they want a positive vision for the future? Do they want grievances and chaos and baggage, or do they want to get our country back on track?’ the memo continued.

‘Do they want an 80-year-old man consumed by vendettas and confused by basic names and facts – that’s both Trump and Biden – or do they want a new generation of leadership with the strength and competence to get the job done?’ Ankney wrote.

In 2016 Donald Trump famously destroyed the expected Republican frontrunner Jeb Bush by nicknaming him ‘Low Energy Jeb’.

Eight years later Chris Sununu, the New Hampshire governor, and chief supporter of Nikki Haley, echoed the nickname.

Sununu said: ‘Trump has no energy – the guy can barely read a teleprompter right now.’

He added: ‘All the wind is behind Nikki’s sails.’

‘This is why I’m in this race: because we are blessed to live in a country where our girls can grow up and do anything they want to do,’ Nikki Haley tells CNN about why she is running for president.

She mentioned the friendship bracelets given to her by young girls who are inspired by her.

‘I believe that our nation’s best days are yet to come, and when I look at the friendship bracelets given to me by young girls on the campaign trail, I’m reminded of that,’ she continued.

It’s important to put into context what a surprise victory for Nikki Haley in New Hampshire would mean.

Polls show Haley is trailing Donald Trump by 30 points in South Carolina, the next state to vote, which is also her home state.

Nationally, she is trailing Trump by 55 points in an average of polls.

Even if she were to pull off a shock in New Hampshire there would be a mountain to climb for the former U.N. Ambassador.

Public opinion polls suggest most Americans oppose a rematch.

An AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll in December found that 56 percent of U.S. adults would be very or somewhat dissatisfied with Biden as the Democratic nominee – and 58 percent felt the same about Trump as the GOP pick.

Some New Hampshire voters expressed similar frustration.

Jeff Caira, 66, a Republican from Sanbornton, said he was undecided in the primary but that he wanted a candidate who will tackle ‘the issues, rather than address the baggage that the other two candidates seem to have.’

He was ‘disappointed’ that as large as the U.S. is, ‘the two front-runners are the best we have to offer.’

Joe Biden is holding a rally in Virginia later on Tuesday night with Vice President Kamala Harris.

They will discuss the threat Republicans would pose to abortion rights if they win back the White House.

It comes after Virginia Democrats secured majorities in the state legislature after making abortion a central campaign issue.

The Supreme Court, with a conservative majority made possible by three justices who joined the court under Donald Trump’s presidency, in 2022 struck down the Roe vs Wade ruling that guaranteed women’s right to abortion.

DailyMail.com’s Rob Crilly caught up with Susie Wiles, senior Trump campaign adviser on Tuesday in Nashua, New Hampshire, where his team is staying.

‘A win is a win is a win,’ she said before heading out with the former president to tour primary sites.

‘Obviously, the bigger the margin, the better it would be for us and certainly for the future of the primary calendar. But I think we will, I think we’ll do that.’

Trump closed his campaign with a show of force in Laconia, bringing on stage three former rivals for the nomination, who have since endorsed him.

Wiles said it was intended as a show of unity, with an eye on the November battle with Joe Biden, rather than a message to Nikki Haley that she should drop out.

‘That was absolutely not it. In fact, this was planned long before. ‘It was just a show of unity. And they called it the Avengers tour.’

Sen. Joe Manchin – a Democrat from West Virginia – is teasting potentially entering the presidential race by Super Tuesday as an Independent.

‘Super Tuesday pretty much confirms whatever is going to happen, what we believe will happen, and we’ll see where we go from there,’ he told reporters Tuesday.

‘But people are looking for options, and we’re going to be looking at that too.’

Manchin, 76, has announced he is not running for re-election to the Senate in 2024.

He told NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ in November that he is ‘absolutely’ considering a presidential run – sparking a flurry of speculation that it could happen before Super Tuesday.

Super Tuesday is coming up on March 5 – the date that the most states hold their primary elections throughout the country.

More from our Emily Goodin at the Red Arrow Diner, a key campaign stop in Manchester New Hampshire.

Marjorie Taylor Greene is having coffee with voters.

Our Emily Goodin has been speaking to Marjorie Taylor Greene at the Red Arrow Diner in New Hampshire.

The Republican congresswoman says it’s going to be a ‘great victory’ for Trump and the she thinks the race for the Republican nomination will end tonight.

‘It would be a good choice for Nikki Haley if she drops out,’ the congresswoman said.

Republican primary voter Scott Manninen, 48, a production manager, in Hollis, New Hampshire, explains the impact of the four indictments Trump is facing.

Manninen said the legal issues would not stop him from voting for Trump.

‘I think it’s a lot of smoke and mirrors,’ he said. ‘Just trying to bash him and trying to get it so that people go against him.’

Nikki Haley told Fox News Tuesday that her campaign is going to ‘run through the tape’ and that she won’t coalesce around Trump despite the media pushing for him.

‘I don’t care how much you want to coronate Donald Trump,’ Haley told the hosts of Fox & Friends in a tense exchange. ‘At the end of the day, that’s not what Americans want.’

‘Americans don’t want a Trump-Biden rematch,’ she continued. ‘Americans want a choice and we’re going to give that choice.’

The candidate also added that she will have a ‘strong showing today here in New Hampshire’ and that her campaign is ‘headed to South Carolina.’

Haley also said she is not interested in a vice presidential role, adding ‘I don’t play for second.’

Haley told voters that the first six votes going to her in Dixville Notch was ‘amazing’ saying that it gave her campaign ‘some good energy and momentum.’

NH Gov. Sununu added jokingly: ‘we’re not promising that it’s going to be 350,000 to zero but we’re definitely on track for that.’

Joe Biden challenger Democrat Rep. Dean Phillips was endorsed by a local New Hampshire paper.

‘We have met many presidential primary candidates over the years. We have always let our readers know who we thought to be the best choice among the many contenders,’ said the paper’s editorial board.

‘Some of you may be handed a Democratic ballot on Tuesday and if so, you should consider Dean Phillips,’ the newspaper wrote in an editorial.

‘For anyone who supports Joe Biden for his policies but would prefer a president born during the Vietnam war rather than WWII, they will not be disappointed with Dean Phillips. Most importantly, Dean Philips is on the ballot and actively campaigning in the Granite State,’ the editorial continues.

President Biden, in solidarity with the party, is skipping the state and not appearing on the ballot today.

But there is a movement among Democrats to write his name in.

More voters in New Hampshire identify themselves as ‘unaffiliated’ – or Independent – than they do Republican or Democrat.

Those ‘unaffiliated’ voters can choose which party’s primary they want to vote in and Haley has been courting that group hard.

The New Hampshire paper endorsed Nikki Haley over Donald Trump on the closely-watched Republican ticket.

Donald Trump says wife Melania will be ‘active’ in his campaign and revealed how tall 17-year-old son Barron is.

The former president, 77, said he relies on his first lady for advice and praised on her compassion in a Fox News interview as voters arrived at the polls for the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday morning.

‘She wants to make America great again, too,’ he said of Melania.

‘I rely on her for advice and all the others. I think she will be very active in the sense of being active.’

Trump also admitted he had concerns for his family, who have been targeted with ‘unfair’ attacks since he entered the White House and kicked off his run for president.

‘They did tremendous job in terms of economic development and jobs, every one of them,’ he said of his family.

He then went on to talk about Barron, and revealed he is 6ft 8 inches. The teenager was alongside his father at the funeral for his grandmother Amalija Knavs last week. ‘He’s a good boy, smart, good athlete, very good boy,’ Trump said.

Emily Goodin in Manchester, New Hampshire reports how Demopcrats have launched a write-in camapign for Joe Biden.

The Democratic National Committee revamped the voting calendar in 2024 to make South Carolina first to vote in the race for its party nomination.

However, New Hampshire Democrats defied the new order and opted to hold their primary on Tuesday anyway.

That means Biden’s name isn’t on the ballot.

But his allies mounted the write-in campaign for him so he can defeat his two main challengers who are on the ballot – Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips and self-help author Marianne Williamson.

Haley put out a final video telling supporters to ‘grab five friends’ and get to the polls,

In a final rallying call to supporters on social media Donald Trump says ‘each and every one of you here in New Hampshire is going to cast the most important vote of your entire life.

‘The corrupt Washington Swamp has done everything in its power to take away your voice – but on Tuesday, I believe New Hampshire is going to speak LOUD AND CLEAR.’

There have been a host of lesser known candidates in the race, some serious, some not.

Among them the political satirist known as ‘Vermin Supreme’ – who is running in the Democrat race – has been a regular sight in New Hampshire recently.

Here he is working a crowd.

New Hampshire residents started lining up at voting sites across the state just after the polls opened at 6am.

Voters braved the chilly start to the morning to make their choice at the ballot box in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.

Over the next 12 hours, thousands across the Granite State will have their say in the one-on-one matchup between Nikki Haley and Donald Trump.

The former president goes into the election with a commanding 20-point lead.

If he is successful today Donald Trump would be the first Republican presidential candidate to win open races in Iowa and New hampshire since the two states began leading the election calendar in 1976.

It would be a clear sign of his continued grip on the party’s most loyal voters.

Here is the South Carolina senator and former Republican presidential candidate back stage at Donald Trump’s final rally in New Hampshire last night.

Could he end up as Trump’s run

On the Republican side, most political analysts agree that New Hampshire presents Haley with her best opportunity to notch a victory – or at least a close second. She has gained significant momentum in the state in recent months.

• If Haley fails to mount a spirited challenge to Trump, the former president could emerge as the presumptive Republican nominee to take on Biden in the November general election.
• If Haley does well, she will likely retain enough donors and interested voters to present a credible challenge in the subsequent weeks. Even if Trump loses, Haley faces an uphill battle.
• The former president leads Haley by roughly 36 percentage points in South Carolina, Haley’s home state, where the next major nominating contest takes place in late February. Nationally, Trump holds a 37-point lead, according to the most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll.
• New Hampshire represents an opportunity for Biden’s Democratic challengers to prove there is appetite among voters to replace the party’s incumbent.
• Biden has dedicated most of his energy to South Carolina, which is home of his party’s first fully sanctioned contest and where support from the state’s Democrats helped him secure the 2020 nomination.

Republican voters in New Hampshire are divided on whether Trump should be the next GOP candidate given that he is facing 91 felony charges across four criminal cases.

Bruce Gurley, a registered Republican, told CBS News that the January 6 attack on the Capitol building was a breaking point for him.

‘I voted for Trump twice, and I supported him for a long time but he’s just — he’s a selfish, narcissistic person. And I’ve seen him for what he is, it’s too bad,’ Gurley said.

‘A lot of his policy has been good, that I was a big supporter of, but I can’t support him anymore.’

But many of the former president’s supporters are not phased by Trump facing 91 felony charges.

‘It looks like every single time he’s in court, it’s a lot of baloney. It’s a lot of bogus hogwash,’ Sherry Carrigan said.

‘I think it’s sensational, for, you know, the anti-Trump movement to latch onto something, but it’s really, as far as I’m concerned, a nonevent.’

On the Republican side, 22 delegates to the Republican National Convention are up for grabs and will be awarded on a proportional basis.

• While that is a tiny portion of the 1,215 delegates needed to clinch the nomination, the state has traditionally played an outsized role in the nominating process because of its early spot on the calendar.

For Democrats, 33 delegates will be sent to the Democratic National Convention from New Hampshire, but their vote won’t be bound by the primary results after a dispute over the timing of the vote.

• That means the New Hampshire primary will serve purely as a barometer of support for the Democrats in the race.
• The national Democratic Party moved its first 2024 contest to South Carolina, which is significantly more diverse than New Hampshire’s nearly 90% white population, to better reflect the party.
• But New Hampshire state law requires it to host the first primary, and the Republican-controlled state government declined to make any legislative change to its primary date.

• All polling places in New Hampshire must be open from at least 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. ET at a minimum, according to the secretary of state’s office.
• Some polling locations have earlier hours starting at 6 a.m. ET, but the majority of all polls will be closed by 7 p.m. ET with a few more closing at 8 p.m. ET.
• The weather in New Hampshire on Election Day is expected to be nice, cloudy and in the 20s and 30s. It’s an improvement off of last week when temperatures in the state plunged into the single digits.
• On Tuesday, 22 delegates to the Republican National Convention are up for grabs and will be awarded on a proportional basis.
• It is a small slice of the 1,215 delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination but a victory in the state would give Trump his second win – after he was victorious in Iowa – or give Haley a massive boost headed into her home state of South Carolina.
• There will be 25 Republicans on the New Hampshire ballot, including those who registered before dropping.

Just 24 hours earlier, Haley was only behind by 10 points and had a glimmer of hope if independent and Democrat voters turned out to back her.

On the final day the poll of 851 people was conducted, Trump had a 40-point advantage over Haley in respondents asked by J.L. Partners.

Longtime New Hampshire-based Republican strategist Dave Carney said the state’s primary is Haley’s ‘only shot’.

• ‘We have a highly educated, high-income electorate. We’re one of the few primaries that allow independents to vote. And if she can’t make it here, she can’t make it anywhere,’ Carney told Fox News.
• Mike Biundo, another Republican consultant based in New Hampshire, agreed.
• ‘Nikki Haley is fully committed to this state. It is her best and only opportunity to challenge Donald Trump, given our state’s significant undeclared voting population,’ Biundo said.

Haley is seeking to energize a flagging campaign with support from the famously moderate bloc, which outnumbers registered members of either party.

She has spent the week hammering home the message – backed by polling – that the majority of Americans do not want to see a Trump-Biden rematch in November.

Haley, 52, told Fox News on the eve of the election she was in the race ‘for the long haul,’ adding: ‘This is a marathon, it’s not a sprint.’

Trump won New Hampshire’s Republican primary during his first run for president in 2016, but some of his allies lost key races during the midterms two years ago.

Haley also has to contend with an opponent who has a deep bond with the Republican base and has concentrated on winning the state decisively enough that it would effectively end the competitive phase of the primary.

If successful, Trump would be the first Republican presidential candidate to win open races in Iowa and New Hampshire since both states began leading the election calendar in 1976 – a clear sign of his continued grip on the party’s most loyal voters.

Ask Nikki Haley’s supporters in New Hampshire to explain why they are voting for her and the answer is clear: Trump.

• A J.L. Partners/DailyMail.com poll shows that her backers are motivated primarily by the idea of stopping the former president.
• In contrast, Trump’s supporters say: Country, America, or border.
• The results of our exclusive poll illustrate how one figure dominates the entire Republican nomination race, motivating not just his supporters but his opponent’s supporters too.

Donald Trump, the frontrunner in the Republican race, is on course for another historic victory just a week after his landslide in the Iowa caucus.

News networks and the Associated Press projected the former president as the winner after just 30 minutes.

Ron DeSantis came in second followed by Nikki Haley in third before dropping out of the race entirely this weekend.

Vivek Ramasmway suspended the campaign shortly after the race was called and endorsed Trump.

For a reminder of what happened in the Hawkeye State in the first Republican primary contest, click the link above in the title.

Donald Trump is aiming for a commanding victory in New Hampshire, securing a sweep of the first two Republican primary races that would make a November rematch with US president Joe Biden look more likely than ever.

The biggest question is whether Mr Trump’s last major rival, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, will be able to eat into his margin – or pull off an upset outright.

Ms Haley has dedicated significant time and financial resources to New Hampshire, hoping to appeal to its famously independent-minded electorate.

In the first results released early on Tuesday, all six registered voters of the tiny resort town of Dixville Notch had cast their ballots for Ms Haley over Mr Trump. The town is the only one in New Hampshire this year that opted to vote at midnight.

The six registered voters of tiny Dixville Notch in New Hampshire all cast their ballots for Nikki Haley at midnight on Tuesday, giving her a clean sweep over former President Donald Trump and all the other candidates.

• The resort town was the first place in the nation to vote in the 2024 primaries.
• The voters were outnumbered more than 10-to-1 by reporters from every corner of the globe – not to mention by a pile of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.
• Dixville Notch has a tradition of first-in-the-nation voting that dates back to 1960, with the results announced just a few minutes after midnight.
• With such a tiny sample of voters, the results are not typically indicative of how an election will end up. But they do provide for an early curiosity.
• In some previous elections, a couple of other tiny New Hampshire towns have also voted at midnight, but this year Dixville Notch went it alone.

The first polls have opened in the cruical New Hampshire primaries.

Donald Trump is heading into the Republican contest as favorite over his only remaining contender, Nikki Haley.

Ron DeSantis stunned the nation on Sunday by dropping out of the race and endorsing Trump.

On the Democrat side, Joe Biden is not on the ballot, but his supporters have launched a write-in campaign to try and ensure a victory.

The first polls close at 7pm Eastern Time and the last an hour later at 8pm.