Donald Trump emerged victorious in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday for the Republican nomination, defeating Nikki Haley.

For her part, Hayley, his only rival, promised to be a soldier. “This race is far from over,” she told her supporters.

At his own party in Nashua, Trump opened his speech by mocking Haley, calling her a “crook” and saying, “Her speech shows she won. He didn’t win. He lost… He had a very bad night.”

With 87% of the votes counted, according to Edison Research, Trump led 54.6% to 43.7%.

Haley had hoped the northeastern state’s large share of independent voters would carry her to a victory that would give her a breather over Trump.

Instead, Trump became the first Republican to sweep the votes of his rivals in both Iowa, where he won by a record margin eight days ago, and New Hampshire.

While the outcome of the nomination race is still undecided, Trump’s new victory is expected to bolster calls by some Republicans for Haley to drop out of the race.

The next match is scheduled for February 24 in South Carolina, Haley’s birthplace where he served two terms as governor. Despite her ties, however, Trump has garnered the support of most Republicans in the state, and polls show him with a wide lead.

The New Hampshire primary initially looked lopsided, with Edison Research reporting that with 5 percent of the estimated partisan vote counted, former President Donald Trump had 51.1 percent of the vote and former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina and former ambassador of the country to the UN, 48%.

Earlier, with 1 percent of the estimated vote counted, Ms. Haley was leading with 57.3 percent, while Mr. Trump secured 42.3 percent, according to the same source.

Still, the Associated Press predicted that it would be Mr. Trump who would emerge victorious in the contest, dealing a blow to his now only intra-party rival, who had hoped to boost her campaign by winning the state.

On the flip side, President Joe Biden, as expected, secured the Democratic votes he needed in the state’s primary, which was held despite not being recognized by the party’s national organization due to a scheduling dispute.

After his victory in the state of New Hampshire on Tuesday, Donald Trump has almost certainly secured his party’s nomination to be its candidate in November’s US presidential election, the Democratic challenger’s campaign team said. of, current President Joe Biden.

“Tonight’s results confirm that Donald Trump has almost locked up the nomination of the Republican Party,” said Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the director of Mr. Biden’s team. Mr Trump won the second caucus in New Hampshire yesterday, as well as the first in the state last week, when he prevailed by a margin described as historic.