Donald Trump won New Hampshire's GOP presidential primary, according to Edison Research, further cementing his dominance of the party and heading for a likely rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden in November.
But his only remaining challenger, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, told supporters at a primary night party in Concord: "This race is far from over." She congratulated Trump but added that she had vowed to fight and challenged him to a debate with her.
With 16 percent of the expected vote counted, according to Edison data, Trump had 53.2 percent to 45.3 percent for Haley, who had hoped the large number of independent voters in the northeastern state would give her a surprise victory that could weaken Trump's iron grip on the Republican Party.
Instead, Trump will become the first Republican to win competitive votes in both Iowa -- where he won by a record margin eight days ago -- and New Hampshire since 1976, when the two states cemented their status as first-nomination contests.
While the final margin is not yet clear, the results are likely to increase calls from some Republicans for Haley to drop out of the race, although her campaign staff has vowed to push ahead until Super Tuesday in early March, when Republicans in 15 states and a territory vote on the same day.
The next race is scheduled for February 24 in South Carolina, where Haley was born and served two terms as governor. Despite her connections, however, Trump has garnered the support of most Republican figures in the state, and opinion polls show him with a wide lead.
Haley finished third in Iowa, just behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, while focusing much of her early campaign on New Hampshire, where a more moderate electorate was expected to give her perhaps the best chance of winning the state over Trump.
New Hampshire was the first race to see a Trump-Haley showdown after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, once considered Trump's most formidable challenger, dropped out on Sunday and endorsed Trump.
Despite Trump's victory on Tuesday, however, exit polls hinted at his potential weaknesses in the general election campaign. He faces four criminal charges against him for a range of crimes, including his efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat and the withholding of classified documents after leaving the White House in 2021. Nearly half of the voters who participated in the Republican primary, said he would be unfit to serve if convicted in court, according to Edison's exit poll.
A similar number of voters said they did not believe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election, echoing Trump's false claims that the result was tainted by fraud.
Edison predicted that Biden would win the New Hampshire Democratic primary.
But there were also warning signs for Biden. More than two-thirds of voters in the Republican primary said the economy was either weak or not good, an area where Biden has struggled to tout his administration's achievements.
Republicans made up a smaller share of voters in the primary than in the state's 2016 Republican contest, exit polls showed. About 47% of voters identify as Republican, compared to 55% in the 2016 primary. Eight percent said they identify as Democrat, compared to 3% in 2016. The share of independent voters was little changed - 45%./BGNES
