DONALD Trump has slammed his sole challenger Nikki Haley as an "imposter" and vowed to turn the country around after sealing another win in the race for the 2024 Republican nomination.
The former president stormed to victory with more than half the vote in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday night, but rival Nikki Haley appeared unfazed by her defeat.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden won the Democratic Party's primary in the state even though voters had to write in his name, but Dean Phillips polled around 20% of the vote.
Trump was quickly named the winner with the Associated Press calling the race for him shortly after polling locations closed at 8 pm.
He picked up 54.8% of the vote and is on course to win 11 of the state's 22 delegates.
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Haley is lagging behind with 43.2% of the popular vote and looks set to win eight delegates.
Trump is leading Haley by more than 34,000 votes with 90% of the ballots in.
He won in the cities of Manchester and Nashua where more than 30,000 votes combined had been cast.
Trump also won by more than 20 percentage points in towns such as Salem and Derry.
But despite her defeat, Haley dubbed herself a "scrappy fighter" and insisted the race was "far from over."
"Let’s not have somebody take a victory when she had a very bad night. She had a very bad night," Trump said as he responded to Haley's remarks.
"I can say, 'Who the hell was the imposter who went up on the stage before and claimed a victory?'
"We are going to have the greatest election success. We are going to turn our country around."
He added, "I don’t get too angry. I get even."
'BEAT HER SO BADLY'
Trump was met by cheers from the crowd in New Hampshire as he took the stage with God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood blaring from the speakers.
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In his speech after the results were called, he vowed to cut energy costs by 50% in New Hampshire if he became president, promising to "drill baby drill."
The former president was flanked by Vivek Ramaswamy and Tim Scott, former candidates who have given him their endorsements, along with his son, Eric Trump.
"We had an unbelievable week last week in Iowa," Trump said of his second win in two weeks.
"It was the best in the history of the caucus."
He went on to mock Haley, who came in third to Trump and Ron DeSantis in Iowa's caucus ten days ago - days before DeSantis dropped out of the race.
"We beat her so badly," Trump bragged.
"Ron (DeSantis) beat her also. Ron came in second and he left. She came in third and she's still hanging around."
Trump seemed to take offense to Haley's speech after her defeat, saying, "I find in life you can’t let people get away with bullsh*t.
“You can’t. And when I watched her in the fancy dress… I said what’s she doing? We won. And she did the same thing last week."
Haley had claimed the race for the nomination was far from over.
Ramaswamy came forward to share some words in support of Trump's "double-digit victory."
"What you saw tonight was America first defeating America last," he said.
"The fact that Nikki is pressing ahead exposes the ugly underbelly of this race: There’s no way she can defeat Trump through the front door, so her donor puppet masters are propping her up long enough while plotting to eliminate Trump from the ballot."
Trump also took shots at New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, who endorsed Haley, calling him "very unpopular" and accusing him of going back on expectations of Haley's performance in the state.
Trump said he was ready to compete against Haley in South Carolina, where he's still the frontrunner in the polls.
"I did hear Nikki say, 'Now it’s off to South Carolina.' Well, I love South Carolina."
"We love you!" shouted a supporter from the crowd.
The next Republican caucus is in Nevada on February 8, where 26 delegates are up for grabs.
But, she's not eligible to pick up delegates as she's taking part in the state-run primary, rather than the GOP-run caucus.
The GOP presidential caucus in the US Virgin Islands is also taking place on February 8.
"We are going to have the greatest election success. We are going to turn our country around," Trump said.
He closed his speech with: "We are going to win this. We have no choice. If we don't win, our country is finished.
"We have an opportunity to do something so amazing. The reason we have support is because they are so bad at what they are doing."
'FAR FROM OVER'
Trump's defiant speech came moments after Haley congratulated Trump on his victory.
"He earned it. And I want to acknowledge that," she told a crowd of her own supporters.
At the start of the race, there were 14 candidates running against Trump with Haley becoming the last one standing.
"I've always been a fighter and I'm scrappy," Haley said. "We still have a ways to go but we keep moving up.
The ballroom rang out with a chorus of "Nikki, Nikki" chants as Haley called for Trump to meet her on the debate floor.
"With Donald Trump, you have one bout of chaos after another. This court case, that controversy, this tweet, that senior moment," said Haley.
"You can’t fix Joe Biden’s chaos with Republican chaos."
Haley's next stop is South Carolina, her home state where she served as governor from 2011 to 2017.
"South Carolina voters don’t want a coronation," she said in her closing remarks. "They want an election.
"We are just getting started."
Trump seemed to disagree, calling Haley "DELUSIONAL" in a Truth Social post.
SECOND PLACE
Haley, the only remaining candidate vying against Trump, started strong in the New Hampshire polls, sweeping the former president in a six-person midnight vote in Dixville Notch.
The tiny town in northern New Hampshire opened and closed its polls just after midnight after six registered voters - four Republicans and two Independents - participated in the vote.
Haley also snagged Concord, Dover, Rye, Keene, Franconia, and Newmarket.
She received a lot of support from unaffiliated voters who chose to cast their vote in the Republican primary.
However, the short-lived victory came crashing down by Tuesday evening, when Republican voters again showed up to back Trump as the clear-cut favorite in the race.
The Biden campaign released a statement blasting Trump's victory while failing to mention the President's own win in the Democratic Primary.
"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," the president's campaign wrote.
"Trump is offering Americans the same extreme agenda that has cost Republicans election after election: promising to undermine American democracy, reward the wealthy on the backs of the middle class, and ban abortion nationwide.
"Joe Biden sees things differently. He's fighting to grow our economy for the middle-class, strengthen our democracy, and protect the rights of every single American."
President Biden won the New Hampshire primary despite his name not even appearing on the ballot.
This is the first time a White House incumbent has not appeared on the primary ballot of their party in New Hampshire.
MAJOR ENDORSEMENTS
Trump brushed off a potential upset by Haley before the official tally was announced, telling his supporters at a polling site: "I think she's worked very hard, but I couldn't care less if she drops out. That's fine."
"Let her do whatever she wants," Trump told reporters in Londonderry on Tuesday afternoon about Haley's declaration that she will stay in the race through Super Tuesday.
Trump's campaign, which was already flying sky-high, earned an extra boost after Ramaswamy and DeSantis suspended their campaigns and endorsed the former president.
Disgraced former congressman George Santos also showed his support and was spotted at a pro-Trump watch party at the Sheraton Nashua Hotel on Tuesday night.
Santos was seen mingling by the bar for a few moments with a line of people waiting to chat with him.
He was then seen at Trump's victory speech.
