The real estate mogul’s success in New Hampshire happened despite a comparatively weak campaign organization and a penchant for controversy

Donald Trump, once an object of mockery and scorn by many in the political establishment, has won the New Hampshire Republican primary.

According to projections from the Associated Press, this is the first electoral victory for the real estate mogul in a 2016 election campaign he has so far dominated.

Trump gave an unusually emotional speech to supporters in a hotel ballroom next to a Best Western hotel by the Manchester airport, starting by thanking his siblings and deceased parents.

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He also took a moment to mention Bernie Sanders, the winner of the Democratic primary. “Congratulations to Bernie,” he said. “We have to congratulate him, we may not like it. He wants to give away our country, folks. We’re not going to let it happen.”

Trump then touched on familiar themes from his stump speech, including bugbears Mexico and China, concluding by promising attendees that once he is elected “we are going to start winning again. We are going to win so much, you are going to be so happy, we are going to make America so great again, maybe greater than before.”

With two exceptions, every Republican nominee in the past 50 years has won the Granite State’s first-in-the-nation primary.



Trump’s campaign, fueled by a blend of insurgent populism and unprecedented media attention, has turned every rule of politics on its head. Trump’s success in New Hampshire happened despite comparatively weak campaign organization in the state and a penchant for controversial remarks that would have sunk the campaigns of almost any other candidate.

Trump has constantly courted controversy throughout his presidential bid. Among other incendiary statements, he has said that John McCain, a decorated Vietnam veteran and former prisoner of war, was “not a hero”, implied that Fox News host Megyn Kelly’s tough questioning during a debate was because she was menstruating and, most recently, effectively called Ted Cruz “a pussy” at an eve-of-primary rally in Manchester on Monday.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Trump supporter holds aloft a scarf bearing the Republican frontrunner’s slogan. Photograph: David Goldman/AP

Yet none of the controversies have affected Trump’s standing with his base of disaffected blue-collar white voters, who remain drawn to his pledge to “make America great again”. Many of Trump’s themes were familiar to a New Hampshire primary electorate that strongly supported Pat Buchanan in 1992 and 1996; but Trump added an aura of celebrity and drew in many who were entirely new to the political process.

One typical Trump voter, Paul Porier from Manchester, told the Guardian on Monday night that he had never voted before. The middle-aged veteran, wearing a hat emblazoned with the name of the ship he had served on in the navy, said simply and insistently: “I’m voting for Donald Trump because he’s going to make America great again.”

Porier said the end of America’s greatness coincided with Barack Obama taking office and that “once we get rid of Obama, things are going to change”. He was finally voting because while he thought all politicians are “in it for the money”, Trump wasn’t. “He doesn’t need the money,” said Poirier.

Stephen Stepanek, a Republican state representative who boasted of being the first elected official in the country to endorse Donald Trump, said he felt “vindicated”.

The loyal Trump supporter, who insisted that he never doubted Trump’s campaign after his second-place finish in Iowa, said: “This will be our Republican nominee who will ultimately be the president of the United States. He is going to make America great again.”

He was planning on traveling to South Carolina eventually to campaign for Trump, but first wanted to enjoy the result on Tuesday night. “I’ve been through the highs, I’ve been through the lows and this is the best high right now,” he said.

What remained less clear as the polls closed was how the pile-up of candidates vying to finish in the top tier behind Trump would perform.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ohio governor John Kasich, who came in second place. Photograph: Katherine Taylor/EPA

Early exit numbers showed a tight race between Ohio governor John Kasich, Texas senator Ted Cruz, Florida senator Marco Rubio and former Florida governor Jeb Bush.

But with more than 80% of precincts reporting in the state’s Republican primary, Kasich – who as a relative moderate is in some ways Trump’s opposite – was declared second by the Associated Press with 16.2% to Trump’s 34.5%.

“Maybe – just maybe – we are turning the page on a dark part of American politics, because tonight the light overcame the darkness,” Kasich told supporters in Concord.



The fight over third place was too close to call as the evening wore on, but Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor whose last act ahead of the primary was to savage Rubio on the debate stage, seemed all but certain to suspend his campaign in the coming days.

A stronger-than-expected showing for Kasich and Bush was crucial for a pair of candidates whose campaigns had failed to take off in earnest. Both governors dedicated a disproportionate amount of time and resources in New Hampshire, seeking to claim the so-called “establishment” mantle as party moderates.

But the question looming over them now is whether they have the infrastructure to remain competitive in a drawn-out primary season. Kasich is largely viewed as lacking the organization to compete in the pending southern states where his brand is far less palatable to Republican primary voters.

A positive result will be a far greater vindication for Bush, whose campaign was declared dead in the water amid a series of stumbles last fall. The son and brother of US presidents still faces an uphill climb, but third place might give him the necessary validation in the eyes of donors to continue with his beleaguered campaign.

“The pundits had it all figured out, last Monday night, when the Iowa caucuses were complete,” Bush told a gathering of supporters in Manchester. “They said that the race was now a three-person race between two freshman senators and a reality TV star. And, while the reality TV star is still doing well, it looks like you all have reset the race, and for that I am really grateful.”



He added: “This campaign is not dead. We’re going to South Carolina.”

Bush holds a formidable ground game in both South Carolina and Nevada and will be joined there this week by brother George W Bush. The former president remains immensely popular in the state, even if once thought to be a liability for his younger brother’s campaign.

The night seems to have been tougher for Rubio, who arrived in the state last week riding high on the momentum he gained from a strong third-place showing in the Iowa caucuses. The first-term senator appeared to be on the cusp of persuading donors and party elites to coalesce behind his candidacy, but was left reeling from an underwhelming debate performance on Saturday that played directly into his rivals’ attacks that Rubio is too scripted.

Additional reporting by Paul Owen in Manchester and Matt Sullivan in Concord