On to SC after Haley falls to Trump in New Hampshire

The former president clinched his second straight victory in his quest for the 2024 GOP nomination after knocking out most of the field with a commanding win in Iowa.

His GOP rival Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and ex-U.N. ambassador, came up short in her effort to capitalize on her strength with independent and anti-Trump voters.

Haley is set to campaign in the U.S. Virgin Islands and in South Carolina on Wednesday as the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination moves beyond the first two voting states.

Trump flew back to Florida on Tuesday night. It was his third straight New Hampshire primary victory, tying a record previously held by Richard Nixon, who won the event in 1960, 1968 and 1972. Trump is the first presidential candidate to win three consecutive New Hampshire primaries.

Trump’s margin of victory over Haley stood at 11.3% early Wednesday with more than 90% of the votes counted in the New Hampshire Republican primary.

The former president had 163,700 votes to Haley’s 129,646.

The GOP primary in South Carolina is scheduled for Feb. 24.

Meanwhile, Biden prevailed with 53% of the vote even though he wasn’t on the ballot. His supporters mounted a write-in campaign on his behalf to avoid a loss, even though the contest awards no delegates because it violates the national party rules he pushed for.

Biden said New Hampshire’s primary results make it clear that he will face off against his 2020 rival, Trump, in 2024.

In a statement, Biden thanked those who wrote in his name for the Democratic primary and appealed to independent and Republican voters who reject Trump to support his campaign.

“My message to the country is the stakes could not be higher,” Biden said. “Our Democracy. Our personal freedoms — from the right to choose to the right to vote. Our economy — which has seen the strongest recovery in the world since COVID. All are at stake.”

South Carolina is up next for the Democrats, with the presidential primary scheduled for Feb. 3. Early voting has already begun.

Tuesday night, if voters were looking for a magnanimous victory speech from Trump, they didn’t get it.

“You can’t let people get away with (expletive),” Trump railed as he criticized Haley for failing to exit the race after he won New Hampshire’s GOP primary.

“This is not your typical victory speech, but let’s not have someone take a victory when she had a very bad night,” Trump said, complaining that Haley came in third in Iowa “and she’s still hanging around.”

“I don’t get too angry. I get even,” he told a crowd of supporters packed into a steamy hotel ballroom.

But Haley said she is not quitting.

Appearing at her election night party Tuesday, the Bamberg Count native thanked New Hampshire “for the love, the kindness, the support and a great night.”

Haley congratulated Trump on his victory, saying, “He earned that, and I want to acknowledge that.”

But Haley said that the GOP race “is far from over.” She vowed to take her “scrappy” campaign onward to her home state of South Carolina, which holds its GOP primary next month.

Haley also took a swipe at Trump for appearing to confuse her with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying that his avowed confidence that he would score higher than her on a competency test should mean that he “should have no problem standing on a debate stage with me.”

Haley drew her support from groups that were distinct minorities in the GOP electorate, according to AP VoteCast. She beat Trump among primary participants who were not formally affiliated with any party. About half of her supporters were college graduates and about half identified as moderates.

In New Hampshire, according to APVoteCast, Trump won big in small towns and rural communities where about two-thirds of primary participants said they live. Most GOP voters in the state lack a college degree and about two-thirds of them voted for Trump. The former president won about 7 in 10 Republican voters who identified as conservatives and those who were registered Republicans.

AP VoteCast is a survey of more than 1,890 New Hampshire voters who were taking part in the Republican primary and 873 Democratic primary voters. The survey is conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.