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New Hampshire

Donald Trump projected to hold off Nikki Haley, win New Hampshire primary

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Donald Trump projected to hold off Nikki Haley, win New Hampshire primary


EXETER, New Hampshire — Former President Donald Trump took a giant step closer to his third consecutive Republican presidential nomination Tuesday, holding off former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to complete the Iowa-New Hampshire double.

With just 18% of the expected vote in, Trump led Haley by under 10 percentage points — a smaller margin than most polls suggested he would win by entering primary day.

Trump, 77, came into the Granite State contest fresh off defeating Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by nearly 30 points in last week’s Iowa caucus.

After his initial win, the former president was further boosted by more endorsements — including from DeSantis after the Sunshine State leader dropped out of the race Sunday.

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As in Iowa, the former president’s camp intended to leave nothing to chance, with Trump himself telling his supporters to turn out in large numbers because “margins are important” and back-to-back blowouts would send a message of “unity” in the GOP.

Trump also flooded New Hampshire with prominent surrogates — including No. 4 House Republican Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and former presidential candidates Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy — while his campaign made hundreds of thousands of calls to boost voter turnout.


Live election results from New Hampshire


Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during a rally in Laconia, New Hampshire, January 22, 2024. AFP via Getty Images
Donald Trump signs autographs and shakes hands with supporters at the conclusion of a campaign rally in the basement ballroom of The Margate Resort on January 22, 2024. Getty Images

For Haley, New Hampshire was her best opportunity to beat out the GOP frontrunner, as some polls in January showed her within four percentage points of the former president.

The 52-year-old leaned heavily on New Hampshire’s large population of independent voters and veterans, focusing on her vision for the economy, foreign policy and her husband’s military experience.

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On primary morning, Haley’s campaign vowed to continue its fight at least through Super Tuesday on March 5, when 16 states and territories hold their nominating votes.

“After Super Tuesday, we will have a very good picture of where this race stands … Until then, everyone should take a deep breath,” campaign manager Betsy Ankney wrote in a memo.

Nikki Haley greets supporters outside a polling site at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, New Hampshire, on January 23, 2024. AFP via Getty Images

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, Haley’s top backer, wavered on his promises for the state, first saying the former United Nations ambassador could “win,” before arguing defeating Trump was not necessary.

On Sunday, Haley told The Post that she just wanted to be “stronger than she was in Iowa.”

“In Iowa I wanted to be strong. We did that. We started at 2%, we ended at 20%,” Haley said during a campaign stop in Epping.

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“In New Hampshire, I want to be even stronger than that, and in South Carolina I want to be even stronger than that. We’ll find out what ‘strong’ and ‘stronger’ is on Election Day, but that’s the goal. That’s always been the goal.”

The path forward will be an uphill climb.

Haley is not registered for the Feb. 8 Nevada caucus and is instead running in the Feb. 6 primary, meaning she is not eligible to receive delegates. She said Sunday she chose to not compete against Trump in the caucus because the Silver State was already “bought and paid” for by his campaign.

In her home state of South Carolina, meanwhile, Haley is currently polling more than 30 points behind Trump, coming in at 21.8% compared to his 52%.

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Electioneering accusation against high-ranking N.H. Democrat cleared – The Boston Globe

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Electioneering accusation against high-ranking N.H. Democrat cleared – The Boston Globe


The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office has closed a complaint after finding that Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill did not engage in illegal electioneering.

At issue were a series of emails Liot Hill, a Lebanon Democrat, had sent from her official government account to help the partisan Elias Law Group connect with voters impacted by a new state voting law.

Republican lawmakers said that was an inappropriate use of official resources, threatening to impeach Liot Hill over her correspondence. James MacEachern, chairman of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee, reported his concerns to the Attorney General’s Office in August.

In August, the Elias Law Group, which represents Democrats and progressive causes, represented three visually-impaired plaintiffs who sued New Hampshire officials over the constitutionality of a new law that would tighten photo ID requirements for voters seeking an absentee ballot. That case was recently dismissed by a New Hampshire Superior Court judge.

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This week, the Attorney General’s Election Law Unit released its determination that Liot Hill’s emails did not constitute illegal electioneering, in a Dec. 18 letter to MacEachern.

The Election Law Unit said it reviewed five emails from Liot Hill’s official government account that MacEachern had provided.

It found the content of the emails did not meet the state’s definition of electioneering, “because it does not relate in any way to ‘the vote of a voter on any question or office,’ i.e., something to be voted on at an election,” Brendan A. O’Donnell, senior assistant attorney general in the Election Law Unit, said in the letter.

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“Moreover, it is not uncommon for elected officials to use their official capacity to take a position on the constitutionality of an enacted law that is being challenged in court,” O’Donnell said.

However, the letter noted that Liot Hill’s emails did raise the risk that its recipients — including two executive branch officials — could interpret her requests for help as commands.

“All executive branch officials should use care to avoid acting in any way that would create an appearance of impropriety,” said O’Donnell.

But, he continued, his office did not find in this case that there had been a misuse of position or that the emails otherwise violated the executive branch ethics code.

MacEachern said he still has concerns about Liot Hill, when reached for comment on the Election Law Unit’s findings.

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“This report, among others, continues to raise serious questions about Councilor Liot-Hill’s judgement and brazen willingness to push ethical boundaries with her conduct,” he said in an email.

But Liot Hill said the findings “underscore the partisan nature of the ongoing attacks” against her, including the impeachment proceedings Republicans have failed against her.

“I am being impeached not for wrong-doing, but for being a Democrat,” she said in an email.


Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.





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NH Republicans push to allow guns on college campuses

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NH Republicans push to allow guns on college campuses


CONCORD — The recent fatal shooting at Brown University shows that banning guns on campus makes students more vulnerable to violence, state Rep. Sam Farrington, a University of New Hampshire senior, told reporters Dec. 17 in promoting legislation to end such bans.

Farrington, R-Rochester, and other House Republicans, also said in the Statehouse news conference that the shooting that killed 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia on Sunday, illustrates that Australia’s restrictive gun laws don’t protect the public.

Rep. Joe Sweeney, R-Salem, the deputy House majority leader, said gun control restrictions leave people “unable to defend themselves, their families, their peers.”

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Farrington said violence similar to what occurred at Brown University in Rhode Island, which left two dead and nine injured, could occur in New Hampshire, where universities also prohibit guns on campus.

“UNH, Plymouth State, Keene State, the list goes on, they all have one thing in common — these are public universities that are infringing on the Second Amendment rights of college students right here in New Hampshire,” said Farrington.

“They claim to be gun free zones. Well if we know anything about gun-free zones, looking at Australia and Brown, we know that they are not violence free zones. They are only defenseless zones where victims are left hopeless, without any hope of defending themselves.”

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He is the prime sponsor of House Bill 1793, which the Legislature will consider next year. It would prohibit public colleges and universities from regulating the possession or carrying of firearms and non-lethal weapons on campus.

Under the bill, if a college or university that received federal funds instituted such a ban, they could be sued.

Democrat speaks against legislation

State Rep. Nicholas Germana, D-Keene, a history professor at Keene State College, said Thursday he wouldn’t feel any safer if people coming on campus were packing firearms.

Any police response to an active shooter on a college campus would be fraught if armed bystanders became involved and crossfire broke out, he said.

“All the sudden police come on that campus and it’s a shootout at the OK Corral,” Germana said. “How do police know who the good guy is and who the bad guy is?”

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He said the tragedy in Australia last weekend is an anomaly that doesn’t alter the fact that gun violence rates in that country decreased after strict firearm regulations were passed almost 30 years ago and remain much lower than U.S. rates.

“We can look around the world to see examples of this where the number of guns in the population at large corresponds to gun violence,” Germana said. “It’s clear that when Republicans say in this country that gun control measures do not decrease gun violence, it is demonstrably false.”

The University System of New Hampshire said in the fiscal note of House Bill 1793 that the measure could cost it as much as $500,000 because insurance premiums and liability claims would increase, more security measures would be required, firearm storage systems would be needed, expected lawsuits would create attorney fees and the ability to attract students and faculty would decrease.

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. Don’t just read this. Share it with one person who doesn’t usually follow local news — that’s how we make an impact. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.



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New Hampshire

NH attorney general clears top Democratic official of ‘electioneering’ charge

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NH attorney general clears top Democratic official of ‘electioneering’ charge


The New Hampshire Attorney General’s office has concluded that Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill did nothing wrong when she used her government email to assist a law firm that was suing the state over its voter ID law.

Assistant Attorney General Brendan O’Donnell wrote that Liot Hill’s use of her state email to assist a national Democratic law firm find plaintiffs didn’t amount to “electioneering” under state law.

The state Republican party alleged in August that Liot Hill — the only Democrat on the five-member Executive Council — misused her position by involving herself in a lawsuit against the state.

From the start, Liot Hill called that claim baseless, and the Attorney General’s office said Liot Hill’s conduct didn’t warrant sanction.

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“This Office cannot conclude that the e-mails constituted a misuse of position or otherwise violated the executive branch ethics code. This matter is closed,” the office wrote.

In a statement Friday, Liot Hill, from Lebanon, welcomed the conclusion of the case.

“The AG’s findings underscore the partisan nature of the ongoing attacks against me: I am being impeached not for wrong-doing, but for being a Democrat,” she said.

The lawsuit challenging New Hampshire’s voter ID recently failed in state court. But this issue may not yet be over: A top House Republican has filed a bill to explore Liot Hill’s impeachment next year.

As the lone Democrat on the Executive Council, Liot Hill is her party’s ranking member in the State House. That profile has made Liot Hill, who spent two decades in local politics before winning election to the council last year, a regular target for Republicans, who argue that her approach to the job, which she says honors the state’s volunteer spirit, has crossed ethical lines.

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The New Hampshire Republican Party did not immediately respond to a request for comment to the Attorney General report Friday afternoon.





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