The NPR Politics Podcast - Trump Wins New Hampshire, Haley Vows To Stay In

Episode Date: January 24, 2024

New Hampshire voters cast their ballots in the state's Republican primary in favor of former president Donald Trump. Former U.N. ambassador & South Carolina governor Nikki Haley came in second, and vowed to take her campaign to her home state of South Carolina. Meanwhile, President Biden won the Democratic primary as a write-in candidate. This episode: political correspondent Susan Davis, voting correspondent Ashley Lopez, White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez, and senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith.Our producers are Casey Morell & Kelli Wessinger. Our editor is Erica Morrison. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi. Unlock access to this and other bonus content by supporting The NPR Politics Podcast+. Sign up via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Connect:Email the show at [e-mail] the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hi, this is Liam from Melbourne, Australia. After four months, 3,000 kilometres, 19 prefectures and three pairs of shoes, I finally finished my top-to-bottom walk of Japan, having finally reached Cape Sata at the southernmost point of the island of Jushu. This podcast was recorded at... 10.15pm on Tuesday, January 23rd. Things may have changed by the time you hear this. For example, I'll

have taken some form of motorized public transport. Anyway, here's the show. What a lovely walk. Oh my God, is this guy real? This is amazing. I was tired from the long day of covering this campaign until now. Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Susan Davis. I cover politics. I'm Ashley Lopez. I cover voting. I'm Frank Ordonez. I cover the campaign. And I'm Tamara Keith. I cover the White House. And former President Donald Trump is now a three-time winner of the New Hampshire Republican primary. With just over half of the vote counted, he was leading lone main rival Nikki Haley by about nine points. Franco, you're at

Trump headquarters tonight. It was notable to me that Trump was flanked on either side by two of his former rivals, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott. What was Trump's message tonight? Yeah, I mean, it was part of a message that he's really been pushing the last few days, this message of inevitability, that he is going to be the nominee and ready to move on to the general election. It was also obviously a show of strength of so many of top rivals also joining in behind him. You know, it was a big celebration here in the ballroom, still here. There's still a lot of TV around. You know, it was, you know, a raucous crowd, a big crowd, a big applause when, you know,

when it was reported on Fox News, the TV's here, that he had won. And Trump gave a strong speech, but it was not the kind of the gracious speech that he gave after Iowa, you know, where he congratulated Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley. You know, in this one, he was, you know, clearly angry. She did very poorly, actually. She had to win. The governor said, she's going to win, she's going to win, she's going to win. Then she she failed badly. Tam Haley lost tonight, but she didn't sound like that in her speech. It almost had the tone of a victory speech. And she seems committed to staying in the race through Super Tuesday. But give us a reality check on that. Is that possible for her? I mean, anything is possible. And, you know, I am reminded that Ron DeSantis was going to stay in the race, and he was going to South Carolina, and he was going to compete in New Hampshire, and he was on his way back up here to hold an event

when he released a video saying he had dropped out. And the reality is that if a candidate wants to continue, they can't show any hint of weakness. And Nikki Haley tonight was certainly, you know, she's like, New Hampshire is the first in the nation, but it's not the last in the nation. And she is there as this person standing up and the last one standing saying, hey, do we really want to nominate Donald Trump? Because if we don't, we need to do something different here. Tim, did the results meet expectations set by the Haley campaign? Was this a better than expected showing for her? I mean, a loss is a loss, but I wonder how they might be spinning it because it is a relatively close contest. Expectations. What are expectations?

I mean, she spent the entire week between Iowa and New Hampshire saying that her only goal was to be stronger in New Hampshire than she was in Iowa. Well, obviously, she was stronger in New Hampshire than she was in Iowa. And perhaps she was even like a little bit stronger than they were expecting. We, you know, not all of the totals are done being totaled, but it was a little bit closer than maybe they were expecting. Not all of the totals are done being totaled, but it was a little bit closer than maybe they were expecting. But it is still second place. And if you want to be the nominee, eventually you have to win something. Franco noted how in his speech, Trump seems sort of irked and angry by Haley. But in her speech, there was this moment where she speaks sort of complimentary of Trump.

I voted for Trump twice. I was proud to serve America in his cabinet. I agree with many of his policies. I decided to run because I'm worried about the future of our country and because it's time to put the negativity and chaos behind us. I will say that is a standard part of her stump speech that made it into the election night speech. Still threading a needle between trying to run against Trump, but not anger the voters that still like him very much. Right. And that is her challenge. Right. Like she she is this candidate who is saying the party needs to move on, that to save the country, the party needs to move on, to save the country, the party needs to

move on. And yet, you know, a large share of the electorate is not ready to move on. Actually, we also should note that President Biden also won New Hampshire tonight, but he won it in a very strange way. Can you explain what happened tonight? Yeah, so he wasn't technically on the ballot, right? The Democratic Party changed their rules so that South Carolina would technically be the first primary for Democrats to weigh in on. And so everyone who supported Joe Biden had to write it in. It was very interesting to be at a polling location when people were actually like hand

counting ballots. And they sort of announced everybody who got written in, which is very fun to hear. The sorts of people who get written into presidential primary ballots. Sometimes it's people's families and their pets. It's really fun. And so yeah, he wasn't officially on the ballot. So you know, everyone had to just sort of see who got written in. And of course, you know, it was the biggest reading campaign was for Joe Biden. And so yeah, next up in, you know, in South Carolina, we'll get like an actual sense of how Joe Biden's doing. But yeah, this was a strong showing for him. Do you get a sense about Democratic enthusiasm? Because you look at candidates like Minnesota Democratic Congressman Dean Phillips, who very loudly saying in New Hampshire, like, look, we have a real enthusiasm problem here. And maybe you could point to votes for Dean Phillips as evidence of that enthusiasm problem for Joe Biden. Well, I will say in New Hampshire specifically, those voters are not happy with the Democratic Party because they didn't get

their first in the nation primary. So it's kind of weird. It's so much it's not so much like aimed at Joe Biden, because I think the voters who I talked to who were voting in the Democratic primary, obviously, were by and large supporting Biden, but they just don't like that the party has sort of changed this thing that they will remind you is in their constitution that they have to be first. So I guess it is a good point. Like there were other names in there. Marianne Williamson got like 30 votes in like the little precinct I was in. Dean Phillips did pretty good too. And so, you know, there is overwhelming support for Biden. But yeah, there are a few Democrats who aren't happy and they're especially not happy

in New Hampshire with these rule changes. All right, let's take a quick break and we'll talk more about New Hampshire when we get back. And we're back. And Tam, the Biden campaign put out a statement tonight that made it pretty clear that they see the Republican primary race is over. Indeed, the campaign manager for President Biden, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, put out a statement saying, quote, While we work toward November 2024, one thing is increasingly clear today. Donald Trump is headed straight into a general election matchup where he will face the only person to have ever beaten him at the ballot box, Joe Biden. They are raring for this fight. They want it. A couple of colleagues and I visited Biden campaign headquarters recently, and they were bemoaning the fact that they thought most Americans didn't yet realize that Donald Trump was likely to be the Republican nominee. They want to

make sure Americans do know that in part because they think that could benefit President Biden, because the contrast is something that would be helpful to him. Because if you're just staring at Joe Biden himself, many Americans have some reservations. Actually, I was remiss to not ask you the enthusiasm question in New Hampshire about Donald Trump and turnout overall. What did it look like tonight in the state? Yeah, well, not surprisingly, there was a strong turnout. I think New Hampshire ranks very high in voter participation. I ran into a lot of people who were like, especially Democrats were like, look, I don't really understand this whole write in thing. But when it's an election day, I vote. This is what I do every single time. People here are in the habit of

voting. So I'm not surprised that even without Joe Biden on the ballot that they were turning out to vote. And yeah, there were a lot of Trump voters. There were a lot, obviously a lot of Trump voters because, I mean, like, look at their results. So yeah, I was also surprised by a lot of young voters coming out to vote. I spoke to someone who was like 20 and is an independent voter, service member, and he was very interested in more democratic politics. But he was like 20 and is an independent voter, a service member. And he was very interested in more democratic politics. But he was like, this is like the great thing about being in New Hampshire and being an independent voter. It's like you really get to pick and choose like where the heat is and where you're going to vote. So, Franco, the race now heads mainly to South Carolina.

I want to put a little asterisk here to note if we have any Nevada listeners that, yes, there will be a Nevada primary and caucus before South Carolina. But none of the campaigns are really playing there and everyone's focused on South Carolina. So what does it look like for Trump and Haley going into her home state? I mean, it looks very good for Trump. I mean, all the polls show that Trump is way ahead. I mean, Nikki Haley is trying to say that, you know, it won't be so easy. Just two days ago, he had the governor, the lieutenant governor, and several other leaders, state officials, and members of Congress on stage with him, and them speaking out against Haley and for Donald Trump in a very big, bold blow to Nikki Haley. And of course, on Friday, he also

had Tim Scott come out in very strong language, speak for Donald Trump. So South Carolina is going to be a very tough battle for Nikki Haley. I mean, this is this is Trump country now in many ways. I mean, I think certainly, you know, things can change. As Tam said, there can always be a surprise. But South Carolina is, you know, New Hampshire looked a lot better than South Carolina. Franco, you had a piece this week on the radio, you may have heard of it, running up to New Hampshire, saying that, framing this Republican primary fight as sort of the ongoing identity crisis in the Republican Party. Is it the party of the Reagan-Bush era, or is it Donald Trump's party?

Now, on the other end of the New Hampshire primary tonight, with the primary election looking to go the way it's going, is this even really a debate anymore? It seems like this is Donald Trump's party now. You know, many traditional establishment Republicans were kind of gunning for this kind of fight. They wanted a choice. Like it or not, they wanted like some clarity about the direction of the party. Obviously, they wanted change. They wanted, in other words, they wanted someone to stop Trump. They thought that Nikki Haley could be that person. She was the closest person they could find to be that person. But I think the results today show that, yeah, it's Trump's party. I mean, he did a resounding win. The voters were not only Republicans, but there were a lot of independent voters. And still, Trump came out very much on top. This was supposed to be the opportunity for those anti-Trump forces to stop the campaign from rolling away with it. And that did not happen.

And as we just said, South Carolina and Nevada are both going to be a lot more Trump-friendly. But I do think there is a general election question here, because if former President Trump is getting 54% of the vote in the Republican primary, but like 45% of people who voted want someone else, many of them are independent voters who come the general election may not toe the party line and they may well vote for Joe Biden or someone else. So you end up with a situation where Trump may be strong in the Republican primary, but is he strong enough in a general election setting where independent voters will be voting again? Sure. And how much of that Haley vote will ultimately go to Trump or go to Biden or stay

home? Absolutely. That's it for our New Hampshire primary coverage. And we'll be back in your feeds later today with our usual daily episode. I'm Susan Davis. I cover politics. I'm Ashley Lopez. I cover voting. I'm Frank Ordonez.

I cover the campaign. And I'm Tamara Keith. I cover the White House. And thanks for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast.