Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is projected to win the New Hampshire Democratic primary, according to The Associated Press. Sanders was ahead throughout the night, but faced a close contest from Pete Buttigieg, former Mayor of South Bend. Ind. Sanders received 25.8% of the vote with 84% of the precincts reporting.
Speaking to supporters in Manchester late Tuesday evening, Sanders said his win marked “the beginning of the end for Donald Trump.”
The victory, combined with Sanders’ finish in a virtual tie with Buttigieg atop last week’s still-muddled Iowa caucuses, cements a candidate who spent much of his career as a political outsider — and still is not a member of the Democratic Party — as a top contender for its presidential nomination.
Pete Buttigieg earned 24.4% of the vote with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar surging to a third place finish with 19.7%, according to the Associated Press.
The moderate Democrat was buoyed by a strong showing in last Friday’s debate before Tuesday’s vote and sagging support for former vice president Joe Biden.
Klobuchar’s campaign needed a strong showing after posting fifth place finish in Iowa, a neighboring state to her home state, where she spent a lot of time arguing she was capable of winning in a battleground state.
Buttigieg faces an uphill climb in the upcoming nominating states, where a more diverse swath of voters will weigh in. The Real Clear Politics polling average has Buttigieg at 5.5% in South Carolina, and 7% in Nevada.
Klobuchar was quick to tout her third place showing as a win for her campaign. Her campaign announced a seven figure ad broadcast and digital ad buy in the next Democratic contest in Nevada.
Four years ago, Sanders won the New Hampshire primary easily, beating Hillary Clinton by more than 20 points. In the days leading up to this year’s contest, Sanders told voters that the win helped legitimize his progressive platform of Medicare-for-all, a $15 minimum wage and free public college — all issues viewed at the time by many Democrats as outside the mainstream.
Now, many Democrats have embraced his agenda, and Sanders appears to a solid path to be the party’s candidate for the White House, even with a New Hampshire margin of victory far below his 2016 win. But with Buttigieg, and Klobuchar, another moderate Democrat, as the second and third top finishers in the primary, the tension inside the party about whether a progressive or more pragmatic agenda would appeal to voters in a general election against President Trump will continue.
Alluding to the divisions in the party, Sanders said Tuesday night, “We are going to unite together and defeat the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country.”
Sanders predicted he would win the next two contests in Nevada and South Carolina. His success raising money among a loyal base of supporters with small dollar donations is a strength over many of his rivals.
This breaking news story will be updated.
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