- Haley finishes second after staking campaign on New Hampshire
- Back-to-back wins keep Trump on pace to clinch nomination fast
Donald Trump put himself on the cusp of clinching the Republican presidential nomination after New Hampshire voters handed him a decisive victory in Tuesday’s primary.
Trump comfortably dispatched his only remaining challenger, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, a little more than a week after his romp in the Iowa caucuses forced his other main rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, out of the race. News organizations called the race for Trump almost immediately after polls closed at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
The back-to-back wins put Trump on track to deliver a knockout blow to Haley next month in her home state of South Carolina and turn his attention to an all-but-certain rematch with President Joe Biden. Haley — who notched 43.5% of GOP primary votes, compared to Trump’s 55%, with 75% of ballots counted — now will face tough questions about the viability of her campaign, since there’s little evidence she has significant support in the next early-voting states.
Haley vowed on Tuesday to stay in the race but her defeat likely marked the final stand of Never Trump Republican operatives, donors and elected officials who have sought to move the party away from its 77-year-old standard bearer and back toward its traditional conservative roots. There has been little appetite for that among Republican voters, who crave Trump’s politics of grievance and populist zeal.
With Haley having virtually no path forward, Republicans effectively have passed up their chance to turn the page on the most polarising figure in American politics, who is facing four criminal indictments and lost the last presidential contest.
© Bloomberg
