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Voting has started in the New Hampshire primary. Check back for updates throughout the day.
WASHINGTON – Former Vice President Joe Biden will leave New Hampshire earlier than expected Tuesday to go campaign in South Carolina.
Ahead of what could be a lower finish in the Granite State, the Biden campaign announced he and his wife Jill Biden would leave New Hampshire following the conclusion of the primary, opting out of a planned event in Nashua, and travel to South Carolina.
The Bidens will instead attend a launch party with campaign co-chair Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., and address New Hampshire supporters in a livestream. According to the campaign, Joe Biden’s sister Valerie Biden Owens would thank New Hampshire campaign supporters in person.
In a statement, Biden said he had “enjoyed traveling across New Hampshire” but was “looking forward to traveling to South Carolina this evening and Nevada later this week” to hear from diverse voters. The South Carolina primary is Feb. 29.
‘I’ll probably take a hit here’:Biden faces big test in New Hampshire, where he’s struggling in polls
According to Bloomberg News reporter Jennifer Epstein, Biden told reporters he was “mildly hopeful here in New Hampshire” shortly after his campaign announced the change in scheduling.
The primary electorates in South Carolina and Nevada, the next two states to hold Democratic presidential primaries, are more diverse than those in New Hampshire and Iowa. Biden has maintained stronger poll numbers among minorities as he has slipped in national polls.
A national Monmouth University poll released today showed Biden dropping 14 percentage points nationally since last month, from 30% to 16%, and the RealClearPolitics average of New Hampshire polls has him tied for fourth place in the state with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
– Nicholas Wu
Buttigieg defends electability as New Hampshire votes
Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg defended his electability in an interview with NBC’s “Today” show Tuesday as voters cast their ballots in New Hampshire’s primary election.
Polls have consistently shown Buttigieg with little backing among African-Americans, a group whose support former Vice President Joe Biden has touted as evidence he is best suited to become the nominee of a party that prides itself on diversity.
But Buttigieg argued that a good performance in New Hampshire, on the heels of his apparent win in the Iowa caucuses – The Associated Press has still not called that race – will give him a boost with minority voters.
“Voters of color who are laser focused on defeating this president, more than anything else, want to know that you can actually win,” Buttigieg said. He said the positive results from the first two contests have given his campaign “the look that we now need as we will travel directly to states like Nevada, South Carolina and the Super Tuesday states that have a lot of racial diversity and where we can make that case eye-to-eye.”
– William Cummings
Voting has started in the New Hampshire primary
The first votes in the first-in-the-nation primary were cast just after midnight in three small New Hampshire towns on Tuesday.
In Dixville Notch, where midnight voting became a tradition in 1960, the town’s remaining five residents delivered a surprise victory for former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg with three write-in votes (one from a registered Republican). The town’s other two votes were split by Sen. Bernie Sanders and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
In the nearby town of Millsfield, WMUR reported that most of the residents cast their ballots in the Republican primary, with 16 voting for the incumbent, President Donald Trump, and one for former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota received two votes, doubling the totals of Buttigieg, Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden, who got one vote each.
‘I’ll probably take a hit here’:Biden faces big test in New Hampshire, where he’s struggling in polls
Klobuchar also dominated in the town of Hart’s Location with six votes, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts got four, entrepreneur Andrew Yang three and Sanders two. Biden, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and billionaire Tom Steyer each got one vote, according to the town’s website. On the Republican side, Trump got 15 votes while Weld got four and self-described “states’ rights maniac” Mary Maxwell got one.
According to New Hampshire law, the polls in those three towns can close as soon as every registered resident has voted. The website for Hart’s Landing boasted that the polls there opened at midnight and closed at 12:04 a.m., with the results posted by 12:33.
“We’re off to a great start in New Hampshire today!” Klobuchar tweeted, touting her success in the small sample from the midnight votes.
– William Cummings
What to know about today’s New Hampshire primary
New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primaries are finally upon us — just eight days after chaos surrounding the release of Iowa’s Democratic caucus results.
The primaries began at midnight — a tradition in the township of Dixville Notch — and will stay open in most places until 7 p.m. ET.
On the Democratic side, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont heads into Tuesday’s primary as a frontrunner after leading several recent state polls. The momentum follows his finish in the Iowa caucuses, were he earned the most raw vote support and was in the top two in state delegate equivalents.
‘Stakes are incredibly high’:New Hampshire voters feel the pressure as primary looms
Sanders also has a home-field advantage in New Hampshire: his home state of Vermont is a neighbor, and neighbors have fared well in previous Granite State primaries. Plus, he’s won New Hampshire before. In 2016, Sanders took 60% of the vote in the Democratic primary, compared to his rival Hillary Clinton at 37%.
Former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg also heads into Tuesday with momentum from the Hawkeye State. He leads Iowa in state delegate equivalents (the marker traditionally used to declare a winner) and the party has stated he received the most national delegates, though no winner has officially been declared. He has shot to second place in several New Hampshire polls, and could pick up undecided voters, of which there are still many.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who finished third in Iowa and is from the neighboring state of Massachusetts, has fallen slightly in polling ahead of Tuesday. Once seen as a frontrunner in some early states, some recently polling has seen her fall out of the top 3. She will be looking for a surge of enthusiasm in New Hampshire.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar is seeing a late surge in the state, coming in at third in several of the most recent state polls. She also could benefit from the number undecided New Hampshire voters.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, however, has been lowering expectations in the state, after his fourth-place finish in Iowa. Biden on Friday during the Democratic primary debate in New Hampshire said, “I’ll probably take a hit here.” His campaign is pointing to the upcoming elections in Nevada and South Carolina, where he holds a lead in polling.
On the Republican side, President Donald Trump is expected to win handily over challenger former Gov. Bill Weld. Polling has show Trump with a substantial margin of support, and he overwhelming won the Iowa Republican caucus.
The New Hampshire primary is only the second voting contest in the election of a party nominee, but it holds an outsize influence: No Democrat since the 1970s has places lower than second in New Hampshire and become the nominee.In addition, those who finish at top in the state will likely benefit from media attention and fundraising before the Nevada caucuses and South Carolina primaries.
Check back for updates throughout the day.
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