Sanders Nabs New Hampshire In Major Boost to Campaign

Sen. Bernie Sanders was declared the winner of the presidential Democratic primary in New Hampshire on Tuesday night less than three hours after polls closed in the Granite State—a victory seen as a massive boost for the campaign of the U.S. senator from Vermont and one which comes on the heels of winning the popular vote in the Iowa caucus last week.

Major news outlets—including the Associated Press, CNN, and NBC News—called the race for Sanders just before 11:00pm ET.

At his victory rally in Manchester, Sanders said, “Our victory tonight is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump.” He added that his campaign is “not just about defeating Trump, but transforming this country” by building a mass, multi-racial and multi-generational working class movement to overthrow the status quo.

“Tonight New Hampshire sent a message that working people are ready for a political revolution in this country. This is what it will take to defeat Donald Trump,” Sanders declared. “This victory isn’t about me; it’s about us. Tonight is about what our supporters, volunteers and grassroots donors built in New Hampshire.”

Watch Sanders’ victory speech:

As of this writing, with 85% of precincts reporting, Sanders was declared the winner with approximately 25.8% of the vote.

Sanders had polled well going into the state’s primary, a contest he also won in 2016. But after the fiasco in Iowa last week—when inconsistencies and errors in reporting denied Sanders the ability to claim victory on the night of the election—there was pressure on the senator to perform well in New Hampshire.

James Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute and a prominent Sanders supporter, expressed elation. “I can feel the momentum heading West to Nevada, South to South Carolina, and then on to Super Tuesday,” Zogby tweeted. “We’re going to win this thing!”

“I can feel the momentum heading West to Nevada, South to South Carolina, and then on to Super Tuesday. We’re going to win this thing!”
—James Zogby, Sanders supporterBehind Sanders—though results were being tallied and subject to shift as precincts continued to report—was former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg in second place (24.4%), Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota in third (19.8%), Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts in fourth (9.3%), and former Vice President Joe Biden (8.4%)—who has so far in the race been considered the party frontrunner—coming in fifth.

Shortly before the contest was called, NBC News reported that neither Biden nor Warren would meet the necessary threshold to win any pledged delegates for the Democratic National Convention later this year.

Meanwhile, as the results came, two candidates—both Sen. Michael Bennet and Andrew Yang—announced they were suspending their campaigns.

According to early metrics and exit poll reporting, it appears Sanders was propelled to victory with the help of first-time and younger voters, which make up a large part of his energetic base, but also had strong results across demographics and in precincts located in various parts of the state.