Donald Trump expected to win New Hampshire's 2024 Republican primary: Ex-president defeats Nikki Haley in first sweep of two early voting states in nearly 50 years

Donald Trump has won the Republican primaries in New Hampshire and tightened his grip on the Republican nomination over his last opponent Nikki Haley.

The former president, 77, is now moving closer to a rematch with Joe Biden in the November 2024 general election after winning his second contest in eight days.

The Associated Press called the race shortly after polls closed at 8:00 PM ET. The victory came about a week after his victory in the Iowa caucuses. Trump is the first Republican candidate in nearly fifty years to win both contests, an indication of his iron grip on the Republican Party. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden won the Democratic contest despite not being on the ballot in New Hampshire.

Trump and his team have used his victories to pressure Nikki Haley to drop out of the presidential race.

Trump's campaign used his victory to call on Haley to drop out, accusing her of helping Joe Biden and Kamala Harris by staying in the race.

“Nikki Haley said she's running to stop Harris-Biden's reelection. But without a viable path to victory, every day she remains in this race is a day she contributes to the Harris-Biden campaign. It's time for unity, it's time to take the fight to Democrats, and for Nikki Haley, it's time to drop out,” Taylor Budowich, CEO of Make America Great Again Inc., said in a statement.

However, Haley has vowed to fight on, declaring after Trump's victory that the race is “not over.”

“I want to congratulate Donald Trump on his victory tonight. He deserved it, and I want to acknowledge that. You've all heard the talk among the political class. They're falling over themselves and saying this race is over,” she said at her first evening party.

“It's not over yet!” she declared as her supporters cheered.

“New Hampshire is first in the country. It is not the last in the country. This race is far from over. There are still dozens of states to go.”

Earlier Tuesday, before polls closed, the former president shrugged his shoulders.

'I don't care if she stays home. Let her do what she wants, it doesn't matter,” Trump said of Haley on Tuesday afternoon as he campaigned in Londonderry.

However, after the results came in and Haley vowed to continue, Trump railed against his Republican rival on his Truth Social account.

He ranted in a series of messages, using all caps to get his point across: “Haley said she had to WIN in New Hampshire. She didn't!!!.'

'MISLEADING!!!'

'SHE TOOK THIRD LAST WEEK!'

“SHE JUST LOST NEVADA, THAT'S NEXT!”

Due to a quirk in Nevada caucus rules, Trump and Ron DeSantis, who have already dropped out of the race, are on the ballot in that state. The next competitive race is Haley's home state of South Carolina.

Donald Trump Jr. argued Monday that Haley has no path forward and should drop out. Other Trump surrogates have also urged her to leave.

“I think we'll see the end of the primaries, hopefully later tonight,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said Tuesday morning as she campaigned for Trump at the Red Arrow Diner in Manchester. “It would be a good choice for Nikki Haley if she drops out after this election. Things aren't going to go well for her.'

And the Biden campaign used Trump's victory to declare him its candidate.

“Tonight's results confirm that Donald Trump has all but blocked the Republican Party nomination, and that the election-denying, anti-freedom MAGA movement has completed its takeover of the Republican Party,” campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.

“As we move toward November 2024, one thing is becoming increasingly clear today: Donald Trump is headed straight into the election, where he will face off against the only person to ever beat him at the ballot box: Joe Biden,” she said.

Most polling places in New Hampshire closed at 7:00 PM and all polling places closed at 8:00 PM. As soon as the screens at Trump's primary revealed his victory, his supporters went wild, chanting “USA, USA” and throwing their red MAGA caps in the air.

Trump is holding his election night party at the Sheraton hotel in Nashua, NH. Before the polls closed, the mood was pleasant and campaign workers were among the guests. There was an open bar and snacks.

Eric Trump and his wife Lara joined the campaign team for dinner at the hotel's restaurant. On the way out, they ran into Vivek Ramaswamy and stopped for a powpow. Kari Lake works in the press room talking about Trump's campaign. Former Rep. George Santos stood in line at the bar. Senator Tim Scott was working in the room.

Other guests took photos in front of the backdrop of flags as giant TV screens played cable news networks as the countdown to the results was underway.

About 40% of registered voters in New Hampshire are not affiliated with a party and can vote in either primary.

With Tuesday night's victory and his victory in the Iowa caucuses last Monday, Trump set a new record.

He became the first Republican presidential candidate to win in open races in Iowa and New Hampshire since both states began leading the electoral calendar in 1976.

The victories demonstrate his hold on the party and cast more doubt on Haley's ability to dent it, even as an Associated Press exit poll showed more voters in New Hampshire had doubts about Trump than voters in Iowa.

About half of Republican voters in New Hampshire said they were very or somewhat concerned that Trump is too extreme to win the general election. Only about a third said the same about Haley.

Trump led in the polls by double digits leading up to Election Day. But Haley argues there is a large group of independent voters who don't want to vote for the former president.

“About 50 percent of Republican primaries want an alternative to Donald Trump. Seventy-five percent of the country wants an option other than Donald Trump and Joe Biden,” her campaign wrote in a memo Tuesday morning.

They point to the Iowa caucuses as proof of their argument.

The 110,000 voters who participated in the 2024 Iowa caucuses made up just under 15% of the state's 752,000 registered Republicans, according to the results. And it's a much lower number than the 186,000 released in 2016.

But Trump's twin victories are leading to a growing sense of inevitability that the 2024 general election will be a repeat of the 2020 battle: Trump versus Biden. Polls show that most Americans don't want a second chance, even if the country is marching toward it.

After winning the Iowa caucuses – by 30 points – former President Trump called on the Republican Party to rally behind his candidacy.

Many Republican presidential candidates dropped out of the race and endorsed him: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Trump will head west after the primaries to campaign in Nevada. He is also still involved in the defamation trial against Jean Carroll in New York.

Haley announced she will hold a campaign event in Charleston on Wednesday, the day after the New Hampshire primary, ahead of the South Carolina primary. Haley's home state will hold its nominating contest a month from now on Feb. 24.