Trump seeks a big victory, Haley tries to stop him as New Hampshire
votes
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[January 23, 2024]
By Gram Slattery, James Oliphant and Nathan Layne
MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Voters in New Hampshire will
decide whether to hand Donald Trump a glide path to the Republican
presidential nomination or bolster rival Nikki Haley's long-shot bid to
topple him on Tuesday in a pivotal primary election.
The former U.S. president and the former South Carolina governor made
their final pitches to voters in what became a two-person race after
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, once seen as the party's best bet to take
on Trump, dropped out and endorsed the New York businessman.
Polls show Trump with a wide lead over Haley, who needs a victory or a
strong second place showing in New Hampshire to carry her to the next
nominating contest in South Carolina, her home state, where Trump is
also dominant in the polls. The former president achieved a
record-setting victory in Iowa's first-in-the-nation contest last week.
A resounding win in New Hampshire would pave the way for him to secure
the nomination and represent a remarkable show of force early in the
nominating process, a sign that Republican voters wish to return him to
the White House despite multiple criminal counts against him, two
impeachments and a chaotic tenure as commander-in-chief. Trump, who is
balancing campaign stops with appearances in various courts, denies
wrongdoing.
The Republican nominee will face President Joe Biden, the presumptive
Democratic nominee, in the general election in November.
DEMOCRATS STRATEGY
Biden is not on the ballot in New Hampshire, having supported an effort
by national Democrats to move their first primary election to the more
diverse state of South Carolina. But New Hampshire supporters will still
be able to vote for him by writing Biden's name on the ballot, which
would be a barometer of his political strength.
In a bit of counter programming to the Republican race, Biden, whose
advisers have been anticipating a rematch with Trump, is holding a rally
in Virginia on Tuesday night with Vice President Kamala Harris to
discuss the threat Republicans would pose to abortion rights if they win
back the White House.
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Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Ambassador to the
United Nations Nikki Haley greets audience members at a Get Out The
Vote campaign rally ahead of the New Hampshire primary election in
Salem, New Hampshire, U.S., January 22, 2024. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
The rally comes after Virginia Democrats secured majorities in the
state legislature after making abortion a central campaign issue.
The Supreme Court, with a conservative majority made possible by
three justices who joined the court under Trump, struck down in 2022
the Roe vs Wade ruling that guaranteed women's right to abortion.
In New Hampshire, Haley is also courting women's votes, while
stepping up her criticism of Trump, for whom she once worked as U.S.
ambassador to the United Nations, by criticizing his affinity for
strongmen such as Russia's Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong
Un. Haley has also gone after Trump's age and mental acuity, attacks
she has regularly leveled at Biden.
Addressing the series of high-ranking officials in South Carolina
who have endorsed Trump in recent days, Haley sought to cast herself
as the anti-establishment candidate, citing her plans to cut
government spending and implement congressional term limits.
"What I will say to Donald Trump is if you have the political elite,
you can have them because that’s never who I wanted to work for. I
always wanted to serve the people," Haley told a campaign rally in
Salem, New Hampshire, on Monday.
Biden, in addition to focusing on abortion, has cast Trump as a
threat to democracy. The former president sought to turn that
argument around in remarks at a rally on Monday night, saying his
opponents were threats to democracy.
“Our enemies want to take away my freedom, because I will never let
them take away your freedom,” he said at a rally in rural central
New Hampshire, to loud applause.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery, James Oliphant and Nathan Layne;
Writing by Jeff Mason; Editing by Michael Perry)
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