By HOLLY RAMER, BILL BARROW and JEFFREY COLLINS
CONCORD, N.H. — After Donald Trump’s record victory in the Iowa caucuses, New Hampshire voters now get their turn to decide just how competitive the Republican nominating fight will be as the former president continues to dominate his party.
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis face mounting pressure to improve on their distant finishes in Monday’s caucuses that kicked off 2024 presidential voting. They have a one-week sprint ahead of next Tuesday’s primary in New Hampshire, where voters pride themselves for their independent streak as longtime hosts of the nation’s first Republican presidential primary.
Trump, DeSantis and Haley each have New Hampshire stops scheduled on Tuesday. Trump first went to New York to appear at a civil defamation trial stemming from a columnist’s claims he sexually attacked her. DeSantis stopped in South Carolina — Haley’s home state — before heading to New Hampshire.
Haley, a former South Carolina governor, leaned directly into New Hampshire’s reputation for independence on Tuesday, launching a statewide television ad hitting both Trump and Democratic President Joe Biden ahead of her arrival in the state.
“The two most disliked politicians in America,” the ad calls them, painting the 81-year-old president and 77-year-old former president together as being “consumed by chaos, negativity and grievance of the past.”
In South Carolina, DeSantis dismissed Haley’s attempts to frame the campaign as a battle between her and Trump. Addressing a few hundred people in Greenville, DeSantis panned Haley’s performance as governor. His Florida record, he argued, yielded more support from Iowa conservatives, adding that Haley is “depending on Democrats to change their registration.”
It is true that Haley has tried to attract both moderates turned off by Trump and conservatives who still like the former president but are open to…
Read the full article here
