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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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%.
Local News
A New Hampshire woman is accused of violating the state’s Civil Rights Act four times after she allegedly shot at a man because he was Black, prosecutors said.
Diane Durgin, 67, of Weare, N.H. could face up to a $5,000 fine for each violation she is found to have committed, the office of New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said in a press release Tuesday.
Durgin is also charged with criminal threatening against a person with a deadly weapon and attempted first degree assault with a deadly weapon, Michael Garrity, a media representative for the New Hampshire Attorney General, said in an emailed statement to Boston.com.
Durgin had a final pre-trial conference last week, Garrity said.
In a civil complaint filed Tuesday, Durgin is accused of threatening physical force against the victim, the AG said. Prosecutors asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction barring Durgin from repeating her alleged behavior and from contacting the victim and his family.
During the morning hours of Oct. 20, 2024, the victim claims, he “mistakenly” drove to Durgin’s home after a prearranged purchase of a truck part with a seller online, prosecutors wrote as part of their request for an injunction.
When the man — whom prosecutors identified in court documents as X.G. — arrived, Durgin allegedly stepped out of her home and approached his car with a gun “holstered by her waist,” prosecutors wrote.
Upon noticing that X.G. was Black, Durgin allegedly “removed her gun and pointed it at X.G.,” prosecutors said in the injunction request.
While X.G. explained that he was lost, Durgin called the victim a “Black mother[expletive],” and threatened to “kill him,” prosecutors allege.
As the victim attempted to drive away, Durgin allegedly took her gun and fired two shots at the fleeing man’s car, missing both times, the AG’s office said.
While on the phone with a dispatcher, Durgin allegedly said she shot the man’s car because the victim is Black, the AG said.
“The guy is Black. And he, he…he says he’s meeting someone here and I think he’s coming here to steal,” Durgin allegedly said.
Police located X.G. and brought him to the Weare Police Department, stopping along the way at the correct seller’s home to complete the truck part purchase, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
To prove a violation of the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act, the AG must show that Durgin “interfered or attempted to interfere with the rights of the victim to engage in lawful activities by threatening to engage in or actually engage in physical force or violence, when such actual or threatening conduct was motivated by race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, or disability,” prosecutors said.
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Streets of Portsmouth after snow storm
The streets of Portsmouth are still in the process of being cleaned up, as seen the afternoon of Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, following a huge snow storm.
It may be March, but winter in New Hampshire is far from over. Just one week after a blizzard tore through the state with heavy snow and high winds, the state is getting another round of snowfall.
The state will get three to five inches during the evening and night of Tuesday, March 3, says the National Weather Service (NWS) of Gray, Maine. While the accumulation will not be significant, the snowfall may cause dangerous road conditions and a layer of ice on the ground in certain parts of the state.
Here’s what to know before tonight’s snow in New Hampshire, including snow totals and timing.
According to the NWS, it will start snowing in New Hampshire during mid-afternoon or early evening and continue through the night. Specifically, snow will arrive to the southern part of the state around 2-3 p.m., spreading northwards through the rest of New Hampshire by 5 p.m.
Rain or freezing rain will mix in later this evening across southern New Hampshire, creating a wintry mix. All precipitation should move out of the state by midnight.
Due to the timing of today’s snowfall, the Tuesday evening commute will be affected, with the NWS warning to slow down and exercise caution while driving.
New Hampshire will get one to four inches of snow tonight, with one to two inches in northern New Hampshire, two to three inches in southern New Hampshire and three to four inches in the center of the state, with the possibility for five inches in localized areas.
In the Seacoast specifically, Portsmouth, Rye, Hampton and York are expected to get between two to three inches of snow, while Dover, Exeter and Rochester may get up to four.
The wintry mix may also cause a light glaze of ice across southern New Hampshire.
The NWS has issued a winter weather advisory for the state of New Hampshire, in effect from 1 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3 through 4 a.m. on Wednesday, March 4.
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