Donald Trump is one step closer to an election rematch against United States Democratic President Joe Biden, as the former president secured a decisive victory in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday.
Within minutes of the state’s polling stations closing, US media announced Trump had beaten his Republican rival Nikki Haley by a substantial margin, dealing a powerful blow to her campaign.
The final results have not yet been announced, but projections showed Trump with a double-digit lead with about half of the votes counted.
The ex-president’s resounding victory follows a similarly strong showing in the Iowa caucuses last week, cementing his lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination ahead of November’s general election.
No presidential candidate has ever won the first two contests on the presidential race calendar – as Trump has now done – and not emerged as their party’s nominee.
Though she readily acknowledged her defeat in the New Hampshire primary, she also took aim at Trump’s fitness for office and his chances against Biden.
“With Donald Trump, Republicans have lost almost every competitive election,” she said. “The worst kept secret in politics is how badly the Democrats want to run against Donald Trump.”
Trump responded with a fiery speech of his own later in the evening, at his campaign headquarters in Nashua, New Hampshire.
The former president accused Haley of claiming a win even in defeat. “Who the hell was the impostor who went up on the stage before and claimed a victory?” Trump asked.
While most of the attention was focused on Tuesday’s Republican primary results, President Biden also secured a resounding victory in his party’s primary race, despite not appearing on the ballot.
Biden did not participate in the New Hampshire contest due to a scheduling spat between state Democrats and the Democratic National Committee, but his supporters launched a successful campaign to urge voters to write the president’s name on the ballot anyway. (Al Jazeera)