Ex-US president beats challenger Haley again in primaries: “She’s taking a victory lap, but we beat her.”

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The only remaining serious challenger Nikki Haley, 52, and former President Donald Trump were virtually neck-and-neck after counting began in the small east coast state of New Hampshire. After five percent of all votes had been counted, the former incumbent president was narrowly ahead. The first American media quickly spoke of Trump’s victory and a major setback for Haley. CNN reported Trump’s “total party dominance.”

According to the forecast by the American broadcaster Fox News, the difference between Trump and Haley was a percentage in the single digits. With just over half counted, Trump had 54.4 percent of the vote, compared to Haley’s 43.6 percent. US President Joe Biden (81) explained in a statement: “It is now clear that Donald Trump will be the Republican candidate. And my message to the country is: the stakes couldn’t be higher. “Everything is at stake,” said the incumbent president, who won the Democratic primary in New Hampshire.

Will Haley give up soon?

After Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (45) withdrew from the race, Trump and the former US ambassador to the United Nations are now dueling over their party’s nomination for the presidential elections on November 5.

The mood in the small state in the northeastern US could have given Haley a boost in the duel with Trump. Instead, a clear signal emerged of the ex-president’s expected breakthrough in the primaries.

Despite his success, Trump verbally attacked his rival during his victory speech in the New Hampshire city of Nashua and literally foamed with anger. “She’s doing a victory lap and we clearly beat her,” he said. The 77-year-old called his former ambassador to the United Nations an “imposter” and downplayed her achievements. “She won’t win,” he said. But his speech made it clear that he absolutely sees Haley as a danger.

New Hampshire is not the same as Iowa

Anyone who wants to become president in the US must first win in the parties’ internal primaries. The candidates are then officially chosen at party conferences in the summer. In polls among Republican presidential candidates, Trump has a huge national lead over Haley.

The Republicans’ first election decision was made in mid-January in the state of Iowa. Trump won there by a large margin ahead of DeSantis and Haley. While in Iowa people voted at party meetings, so-called “caucus” meetings, people in New Hampshire voted in the traditional way at polling stations on Tuesday. According to European time they only closed on Wednesday evening.

Democrats are also voting – without Biden on the ballot

New Hampshire also voted on the Democratic presidential candidate. However, the incumbent Biden, who wants to run for a second term, was not on the ballot.

The background is an internal dispute: the Democratic Party wanted to move the start of the primaries to South Carolina – to a state with a more diverse electorate, to give the voices of black voters a bigger stage. The vote there is scheduled for February 3. However, New Hampshire did not want to lose its status as the first state for the primaries and pushed for an early voting date. (with SDA)

Source: Blick