President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump cruised to victories in their parties' New Hampshire presidential primaries Tuesday, NBC News projected, keeping them on track for a rematch of the 2020 election.
Biden ran on write-ins, as his name was not on the ballot, and he didn't spend time campaigning in New Hampshire, including Tuesday. Trump did campaign in New Hampshire, and touted his win at an election night party where he was flanked by former primary rivals, even letting one take a crack at the victory.
"What we saw tonight is America First defeating America Last," Vivek Ramaswamy said.
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While Trump celebrated his second-straight victory in the push for his third-straight nomination to the Republican ticket, Nikki Haley vowed she wasn't dropping out, despite coming in second.
"Today we got close to half of the vote. We still have a ways to go, but we keep moving up," she said at her election night party in Concord, where she also congratulated Trump on his victory.
Haley noted that there were many contests left to go in the race for the GOP nomination, and that next up is her home state of South Carolina, where she served as governor.
"New Hampshire is first in the nation, it is not the last in the nation. This race is far from over," Haley said.
It was an appearance that caught Trump's attention — he spent much of his speech attacking Haley for hers: "This is not your typical speech, but let's not have somebody take a victory when she had a very bad night."
PHOTOS: NH residents vote, candidates stump in first-in-the-nation primary
Republicans' contest in New Hampshire remains the first presidential primary of the election cycle, continuing a proud tradition in the state, but Democrats changed their schedule this year to make South Carolina their first official primary, leading to a conflict between the state and local parties that resulted in Biden's name not appearing on the ballot.
That complication had been expected to drag out the suspense as votes in the Democratic contest were counted, but NBC News projected Biden's victory as polls closed at 8 p.m. His campaign quickly released a statement on the results in New Hampshire but focusing more on the Republican contest than their own party's.
"While we work toward November 2024, one thing is increasingly clear today: Donald Trump is headed straight into a general election matchup where he’ll face the only person to have ever beaten him at the ballot box: Joe Biden," campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said.
There was less suspense among Republicans. Trump had consistently led polling in the Granite State, with the last of the Suffolk University/NBC10 Boston/Boston Globe tracking polls showing Trump leading Haley 60% to 38%.
While the first six ballots cast overnight in Dixville Notch all went to Haley and independents and Democrats voting in the Republican primary broke for her, according to exit polls, she couldn't overcome registered Republicans' overwhelming support for Trump.
No major voting issues, election officials say
Voting across the state went smoothly with steady turnout into the early afternoon, according to New Hampshire Secretary of State spokeswoman Anna Sventek.
Assistant Attorney General Brendan O’Donnell, head of the department’s Election Law Unit, agreed, saying it was a “great morning” with “no major issues.”
O’Donnell said his office was dealing with “typical complaints” from some voters who were affiliated with one party and wanted to vote in the other party’s primary. Such complaints come in every year, he said. Registered Democrats or Republicans who wanted to switch their party affiliation for this election would have had to do so by a deadline in October.
There were also some isolated issues with accessible voting machines and electioneering in polling locations that were being resolved, he said.
Ten communities requested more Republican ballots, the Secretary of State's Office confirmed to NBC News, but polling places did not need to stay open later because of it.
Voters weigh in
Voters were amped up in line in Londonderry on Tuesday.
"We need a change at this point," David Joy said.
"Well, the whittling down of the Republican side, I mean that was inevitable because we had so many. But we still have a choice, and as for the Democratic party bowing out on this, it’s really disappointing," said voter Terri Murphy. "It basically feels like we were put on the back burner and our votes don't matter."
At the polls in Bow, Linda Kelly, an independent voter and stay-at-home mom, said she voted for Haley.
“I’m not far left or far right. She’s a little bit to the right, but much closer to the middle than any of the other choices,” she said outside a community center.
Kelly sighed heavily when asked who she would support if the general election is a rematch between Trump and Biden.
“I don’t like either of the choices. I probably would lean to Trump just because the economy was better (when he was in office),” she said.
Dixville Notch votes for Haley
Those first six votes in Dixville Notch all went to Nikki Haley — a sweep.
"It gave us some good energy and momentum," Haley said of the unanimous victory after being asked if it was an indicator of things to come.
"We're not promising that it's going to be 350,000 to 0 but we're definitely on track for that," joked Gov. Chris Sununu, a prominent Haley supporter.
Scanlan wouldn't go so far as to call Dixville Notch a bellwether for the rest of the state, but he lauded its long tradition of midnight voting.
Former primary rivals were hitting the campaign trail Tuesday on behalf of Trump, including Doug Burgum and Tim Scott.
Haley vows to fight on
Haley had vowed to continue with her campaign even if she doesn't have a good night in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary.
“We’re going to South Carolina. We have put in the ad buy. We are there. This has always been a marathon. It’s never been a sprint. We wanted to be strong in Iowa. We wanted to be stronger than that in New Hampshire. We’re going to be even stronger than that in South Carolina,” she told reporters earlier in the day.
“I’m running against Donald Trump, and I’m not going to talk about an obituary,” she added.
Trump visits Londonderry polling place
Trump made an unannounced visit to the polls at Londonderry High School on Tuesday afternoon to greet supporters. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene also stopped by.
"Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump!" his supporters cheered as his motorcade arrived at the school.
"This was totally unannounced. Nobody knew we were coming... Nobody gets crowds like this," Trump said. "They want to see our country be great again -- it's that simple."
"I'm very confident," he added. "We just stopped here, we stopped at a polling site. We picked it at random, we may stop at one more. Nobody knew we were coming. This is pretty amazing."
Trump predicted a "big loss" for Haley in New Hampshire. Asked about Haley's statement that she plans to stay in the race no matter what happens Tuesday, he said, "I don't care if she stays in. Let her do whatever she wants, it doesn't matter."
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On Monday, Trump and Haley gathered large crowds in New Hampshire, making one last pitch to voters.
"Let me get this straight. Donald Trump won 56,000 votes out of 3 million in Iowa. He got one-and-a-half percent of the vote in Iowa," Haley said.
"She is very easy to beat, and you see that with the polls, it just came out tonight we are beating Biden by so much, probably get indicted 3-4 more times by tomorrow," Trump said.
Both will be in New Hampshire Tuesday night to watch the results roll in. Biden, meanwhile, will be at the White House, after returning from a campaign event in Virginia to discuss what the coming general election will mean for reproductive health in the U.S.
NBC10 Boston's Asher Klein, Matt Prichard, Alysha Palumbo, Munashe Kwangari, Matt Fortin and Thea DiGiammerino contributed to this report, along with The Associated Press.
