Trump cruises in New Hampshire primary, Haley vows to fight on

Donald Trump cruised to victory in New Hampshire's Republican presidential race on Tuesday, marching closer to a November rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden even as his only remaining rival, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, vowed to soldier on despite her loss.

"This race is far from over," Haley told her supporters at a post-election party in Concord, challenging Trump to debate her. 

"I'm a fighter. And I'm scrappy. And now we're the last one standing next to Donald Trump," she said.

Trump will become the first Republican to sweep competitive votes in both Iowa and New Hampshire since 1976 when the two states cemented their status as the first nominating contests.

With 41 percent of the expected vote tallied, according to Edison, Trump held a comfortable 54.7 percent to 43.7 percent lead.

While the final margin was still unclear, the result will likely bolster calls within the party for Haley to drop out of the race and allow the Republicans to coalesce behind Trump. Her campaign vowed in a memo earlier on Tuesday to push forward until "Super Tuesday" in early March, when Republicans in 15 states and one territory vote on the same day.

The next competitive contest is scheduled for February 24 in South Carolina, where Haley was born and served two terms as governor. However, despite her ties, Trump has racked up endorsements from most of the state's Republican figures, and opinion polls show him with a wide lead.

Edison had projected that Biden would win the New Hampshire Democratic primary based on write-in votes after he declined to appear on the ballot due to a dispute with the state about the election's timing.

Despite Trump's win on Tuesday, exit polls hinted at his potential vulnerabilities in a general election campaign. He faces four sets of criminal charges for a range of offenses, including his efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat and his retention of classified documents after leaving the White House in 2021.

About 44 percent of voters who participated in the Republican primary said he would not be fit to serve if convicted in court, according to exit polling by Edison.

"Tonight's results confirm Donald Trump has all but locked up the GOP nomination, and the election denying, anti-freedom MAGA movement has completed its takeover of the Republican Party," Biden's 2024 campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, said in a statement, referring to Trump's slogan, Make America Great Again.

Trump, who is balancing campaign stops with appearances in various criminal and civil courts, denies wrongdoing and has used the criminal charges against him to bolster his claim of political persecution.

(With input from Reuters)