Trump makes history after back-to-back wins in Iowa and N.H. primaries

Former President Trump made history after back-to-back wins in the Iowa and New Hampshire Republican presidential primaries.

The Associated Press called the New Hampshire race for Trump around 8 p.m. on Tuesday evening.

With 91% of the vote in, Trump has 54.5% and Haley had 43%.

Despite her losses in the first two primary states, Haley has vowed to stay in the GOP presidential race.

"I’ve got bad news for the political establishment: I’m not going anywhere…except to my sweet South Carolina," Haley wrote in a post on X. "We’re not going to let them coronate Donald Trump when 48 states haven’t voted."

Trump's New Hampshire win on Tuesday night marks the first time a non-incumbent won a contested primary race in both Iowa and New Hampshire to open a presidential election season.

Trump called Haley an "imposter" for claiming it was a two-person race after she finished third in Iowa behind Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., who dropped out on Sunday. 

"She’s doing, like, a speech like she won. She didn’t win. She lost," Trump said.

Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said the "general election begins tonight" and that Trump will win by a landslide.

Trump told his supporters at his final New Hampshire rally that 

“every day the Republican Party is becoming more and more unified."

Dr. David Richards, chair of the Political Science program at the University of Lynchburg, pointed out that Haley was projected to finish 20 or more points behind Trump but she lost by a smaller margin.

"This shows that moderate Republicans are a significant part of the GOP and Haley was able to tap into them," he told Just the News.

Still, Richards said Haley has run out of time.

"The problem I have is that Haley is like the team that finally decided to play ball, but it is the 4th quarter, there are 5 minutes on the clock and her team is down 30 points. Even if she puts points up on the board, her team has run out of time," he said.

He predicted that Haley will lose her home state of South Carolina.

"I predict she will now stay in until South Carolina. She will attempt to capitalize on her good showing to win over more Republican moderates," he said. "But I also see her losing South Carolina anyway and packing it in afterward. We'll see her back in about February of 2027 when she announces another run, I bet."

Exit polling from the N.H. primary showed immigration was a top priority for Republican voters who backed Trump. Trump made illegal immigration a focus of his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. 

The economy was cited as the second most important issue to Trump voters.