Donald J. Trump seeks a decisive win in the first two primaries, Iowa and New Hampshire, while Nikki Haley faces pressure as the Republican primary narrows to a head-to-head battle between them.
Associated Press reports that Trump is looking to deliver a crushing victory, securing a sweep of the first two primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire, respectively. The question as to whether Nikki Haley will be able to eat into his sizable margin remains to be answered.
She has dedicated much of her time and resources in hopes of pulling off an upset in New Hampshire. In the first results, Nikki won the small town of Dixville Notch, a locale with just six registered voters. It is the only town that opened polling at midnight. New Hampshire was a huge win for Trump in his first presidential campaign, but many of his allies lost key races during the midterms two years ago.
However, his deep bond with the GOP base is significant. Trump is looking to win New Hampshire so decisively that it will end Haley's competitiveness moving forward.
The Republican primary has become a one-on-one match between Haley and Trump. President Joe Biden is not on the ballot in New Hampshire.
The New Hampshire attorney general's office is investigating reports of a robocall mimicking President BIden's voice that encourages Democrats not to vote.
The A.I. concoction is a criminal act. If Trump wins both Iowa and New Hampshire he will become the first Republican presidential candidate to win both states since they began the election calendar in 1976.
What Are The Challenges?
Haley is already facing pressure to leave the race from Trump's allies. Those calls will certainly grow louder and more belligerent if he easily wins New Hampshire. If Haley were to yield to Trump, it would hand him the GOP primary before the majority of GOP voters cast a ballot.
Read Also: New Hampshire Primary Begins; Traditional Midnight Poll Goes in Favor of Haley
New Hampshire Republican Governor Chris Sununu has been campaigning for Haley as he is a staunch critic of Trump. Nikki Haley insists, despite the polling, that she is in the race for the long haul. "This is about, do you have more of the same, or do you want someone who's going to take us forward with new solutions," Haley told reporters, also saying, "We can either do the whole thing that we've always done and live in that chaos world that we've had, or we can go forward with no drama, no vendettas and some results for the American people."
"This is a two-person race," she added. Florida governor Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race on Sunday while former New Jersey governor Chris Christie ended his bid for the Republican nomination last week.
New Democratic National Committee rules have the primary process beginning Feb 3 in South Carolina, instead of Iowa and New Hampshire. Biden argued that Black voters in this state were a critical part of his win in 2020 and that the state should have a larger, earlier role in determining the Democrats' nominee.
