New Hampshire primary results: Trump drops unity act as Haley donors fret over next steps

President Joe Biden warned that “our Democracy” is at stake, after Donald Trump’s clear victory in the New Hampshire GOP primary effectively made Trump Biden’s presumptive opponent in the 2024 election.

“It is now clear that Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee,” Biden said in a statement released by his campaign.

“And my message to the country is the stakes could not be higher. Our Democracy. Our personal freedoms — from the right to choose to the right to vote. Our economy — which has seen the strongest recovery in the world since COVID. All are at stake.”

Biden appealed to registered Republicans and independent voters to support him in the general election.

Biden also thanked voters who wrote in his name in the Democratic primary, where the president was not on the ballot due to an intra-party squabble over which state would get the first primary this cycle.

 “It was a historic demonstration of commitment to our democratic process,” Biden said. “And I want to say to all those Independents and Republicans who share our commitment to core values of our nation — our Democracy, our personal freedoms, an economy that gives everyone a fair shot — to join us as Americans.”

– Dan Mangan

Donald Trump gave a rambling, ranting victory speech after the New Hampshire primary, attacking Nikki Haley for insisting on staying in the Republican nomination contest.

“You must really hate her,” Trump said to Sen. Tim Scott, referring to the South Carolina Republican’s endorsement of him instead of Haley, who as that state’s governor appointed Scott to the Senate.

“I just love you,” Scott told Trump on the stage in Nashua.

Trump then mocked the dress Haley wore during her earlier speech.

“Just a little note to Nikki: She’s not going to win,” Trump said. “But if she did, she would be under investigation by those people in 15 minutes. And I could tell you five reasons why already. Not big reasons, little stuff that she doesn’t want to talk about.”

“This is not your typical victory speech,” Trump said of Haley. “But let’s not have somebody take a victory when she had a very bad night. She had a very bad night.”

He also falsely claimed that he won New Hampshire’s general presidential election in both 2016 and 2020, when he only won in the first year.

“We win it every time,” Trump said of the state. “We win the primary, we win the generals. We’ve won it and it’s a very, very special place to me. It’s very important.”

Trump also repeated false claims about his 2020 national election loss to Joe Biden.

“I hope the cameras don’t turn off because they hate this but we got millions and millions of more votes the second time, right,” Trump said. “But we had Covid and they used Covid to cheat.”

— Dan Mangan and Rebecca Picciotto

NASHUA, N.H. — Sitting in the heart of Main Street, Martha’s Exchange has been a popular stop for presidential candidates in primaries past.

It’s easy to see why: The restaurant’s backlit onyx bar and surplus of dark-painted wood make it an ideal photo op for a politician seeking a tone of inviting seriousness.

Their visits have also brought customers to the area, nearby business owners told CNBC.

But this year, no one can recall any such stops. And on Tuesday night, the bar was nearly empty even an hour before polls closed and news outlets quickly called the race for Donald Trump.

By 8 p.m. ET, the few lingering at the bar included a self-described political tourist from out of state, who soon caught a cab with another person to try and get into Trump’s watch party. 

The quiet scene reflects the assessment CNBC heard from Chris Galdieri, a political science professor at New Hampshire’s Saint Anselm College, who had described the primary as alternatively “weird” and “boring.”

— Kevin Breuninger

The Biden campaign is gearing up for a rematch with Donald Trump after the former Republican president secured a first-place win in New Hampshire, as projected by NBC News.

“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,” Biden-Harris 2024 campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.

Biden swept the Democratic field in New Hampshire, despite not having his name listed on the ballot and not holding campaign events in the state.

Trump’s win came by a narrower margin over GOP challenger Nikki Haley, who poured millions of dollars into New Hampshire trying to close in on the former president’s lead. Despite her efforts, Trump still took the Granite State and remains on track to become the Republican nominee.

As a result, the Biden campaign is preparing for 2020 déjà vu.

“One thing is increasingly clear today: Donald Trump is headed straight into a general election matchup where he’ll face the only person to have ever beaten him at the ballot box: Joe Biden,” Chavez Rodriguez said.

— Rebecca Picciotto

Donald Trump, in an interview with Fox News, said Nikki Haley should drop out of the race now “because, otherwise, we have to keep wasting money instead of spending on” President Joe Biden.

Trump told Fox News Digital that he is “looking forward” to going up against Biden.

Trump, in the interview, said he was “very honored” by his victory in New Hampshire, and that the Republican Party is now “very united” behind him.

— Dan Mangan

Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Deb Fischer endorsed Former President Donald Trump on social media platform X after he won the New Hampshire Republican primary.

Cornyn, who has represented Texas in the Senate since 2002 and is a key ally of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, said he was supporting Trump just minutes after all the polls closed.

“I have seen enough. To beat Biden, Republicans need to unite around a single candidate, and it’s clear that President Trump is Republican voters’ choice,” Cornyn wrote.

Fischer, a Nebraska senator since 2013, said she was endorsing Trump to solve issues involving inflation and immigration.

“It’s time for Republicans to unite around President Donald Trump and make Joe Biden a one-term President,” Fischer wrote.

— Ryan Anastasio

Former President Donald Trump won nearly every traditional Republican voting bloc group in the New Hampshire primary, according to NBC News exit poll results.

74% of primary voters who identified as Republicans supported Trump and 88% of very conservative voters supported the former president.

Trump also overwhelmingly carried voters without college degrees and those with incomes of less than $50,000, landing about two-thirds of those voters.

Trump only slightly carried voters over the age of 65 years old, getting 53% of those voters.

— Ryan Anastasio

A Republican fundraiser with clients who have have been helping Nikki Haley says her loss to Donald Trump in New Hampshire is her “Waterloo” in the Republican primary.

“I just had one donor text me who has raised over $100k for Haley who just told me they are done. It’s over. I’m sure there more as the night goes,” said the fundraiser, who was granted anonymity in order to speak freely about what he’s hearing from clients.

The fundraiser also said he was hearing from Haley campaign financiers who are looking for an exit.

Though it’s still unclear by how much Haley lost to Trump, NBC News projected his victory less than 20 minutes after polls closed.

Trump is also the favorite to beat Haley in the upcoming primary in South Carolina, Haley’s home state.

– Brian Schwartz

Nikki Haley made it very clear that she did not intend to drop out of the race, after coming in second to Donald Trump in New Hampshire.

“What a great night,” she proclaimed to a crowd of cheering voters.

Trump’s Super PAC called on Haley to drop out of the race following Trump’s first-place win in New Hampshire. She has so far rebuffed that demand.

“This race is far from over. There are dozens of states left to go. And the next one is my sweet state of South Carolina,” Haley said.

The former U.N. ambassador was banking on a good outcome in New Hampshire after pouring millions of ad dollars into the state and securing key endorsements like Gov. Chris Sununu.

“Today we got close to half of the vote. We still have a ways to go but we keep moving,” Haley said.

Though Haley did not win the state, as her campaign bullishly projected in months prior, she did manage to close some of the gap between her and Trump, which could give her campaign more fumes to run on in the coming weeks.

— Rebecca Picciotto

Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, the deputy chief of staff to President Joe Biden and White House senior advisor Mike Donilon are leaving the White House for leadership positions in Biden’s reelection campaign, NBC News reports.

The move happened more quickly than anticipated due in part to the consolidation of Republican support around Trump in his two-person race between him and Nikki Haley.

“Mike and Jen were essential members of the senior team that helped President Biden and Vice President Harris earn the most votes in American history in 2020,” said Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez. “We’re thrilled to have their leadership and strategic prowess focused full-time on sending them back to the White House for four more years.” 

—Chelsey Cox

The Super PAC backing Donald Trump quickly called on Nikki Haley to “drop out” of the Republican presidential nomination contest after she was projected to lose the GOP primary in New Hampshire.

“Nikki Haley said she’s running to stop the re-election of Harris-Biden,” said Taylor Budowich, CEO of Make America Great Again Inc.

“Yet, without a viable path to victory, every day she stays in this race is another day she delivers to the Harris-Biden campaign. It’s time for unity, it’s time to take the fight to the Democrats, and for Nikki Haley: it’s time to drop out,” Budowich said.

– Dan Mangan

Former U.S. Rep. George Santos made an appearance at Trump’s watch party in New Hampshire as polling results rolled in.

The former New York congressman was seen mingling by the bar at the Sheraton Nashua Hotel, according to NBC News’ Jake Traylor.

Santos announced his endorsement of Trump last summer, months before he was expelled from the House in December for alleged campaign finance crimes.

—Chelsey Cox

The economy and immigration are the most important issues to New Hampshire Republican primary voters, according to the NBC News exit poll. 34% of voters said the economy was most important compared to 31% for immigration.

When asked about the state of their family finances, about 60% of voters said they were holding steady. Just 18% said they were getting ahead and 20% said they were falling behind with their finances. Both Donald Trump and Nikki Haley have strongly criticized President Joe Biden for his handling of the economy and said they would lower inflation and taxes.

Republican primary voters were largely split over whether undocumented immigrants should be granted legal status or deported. 51% said they should be deported while 45% said they should be offered chance at legal status.

Trump, who has prioritized immigration as one of his top issues, has said that Haley would be weak on immigration policy.

— Ryan Anastasio

Donald Trump is projected to win the New Hampshire Republican primary by NBC News.

Nikki Haley has failed to hit the ballot targets she needs to reach to beat Trump in the Granite State.

– Dan Mangan

Donald Trump is officially picking up one of Ron DeSantis’ fundraisers from the oil and gas industry as the former president aims to lock up the New Hampshire primary.

Dan Eberhart, the CEO of Canary, an oil drilling services company, told CNBC on Tuesday that he plans to head to Trump’s private club in Florida, Mar-a-Lago, on Feb. 16 and will help raise campaign cash against President Joe Biden throughout the rest of the election season. Trump is hosting a fundraising event that night at his private club in Florida.

Eberhart backed DeSantis over Trump throughout the first year of the primary season. He donated around $10,000 to DeSantis’ campaign for president last year, according to data from OpenSecrets. DeSantis dropped out of the race after coming in second against Trump in the Iowa caucuses.

He was also one of DeSantis’ outspoken donors while the Florida governor was still in the race.

“The national polls don’t matter at this point,” Eberhart told ABC News in 2023. “DeSantis is the only candidate who can beat Trump. No one else is close in the polling.” Eberhart now plans to also be a supportive surrogate for Trump, he told CNBC.

Eberhart was a donor to Trump’s campaign when he ran for reelection as president in 2020.

– Brian Schwartz

Incumbent President Joe Biden has won the New Hampshire Democratic primary via write-in ballots, NBC News projects.

Biden beat long-shot challengers like House Rep. Dean Phillips and author Marianne Williamson, despite not having his name on the ballot and not holding campaign events in the Granite State.

— Rebecca Picciotto

Nikki Haley in early voting results from several New Hampshire cities is hitting targets she needs to reach to run a “very close race statewide” with the favorite, Donald Trump, according to MSNBC’s election results guru Steve Kornacki.

In the city of Concord, Haley was beating Trump with 60% of the vote currently reported, or 3 percentage points more than her target, Kornacki noted.

In Keene, Haley was winning with 54% of the votes reported so far, which is exactly her target.

And in Dover, Haley was besting Trump with 53% of the votes reported, one percentage point less than her target.

But Haley was 18 percentage points lower than her target in Laconia, where she was trailing Trump with just 34% of the votes reported.

– Dan Mangan

The New Hampshire Republican primary is too early to call, but initial returns show Donald Trump is leading Nikki Haley, NBC News reported.

MSNBC’s election project expert Steve Kornacki tweeted, “With 10% in, we have Haley exceeding her benchmark in areas with higher concentrations of college+ by ~3 points, but falling short of it by ~9 points in areas with lower college attainment rates.”

– Dan Mangan

Voters in the New Hampshire Republican primary are split on whether President Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election, according to the NBC News exit poll.

49% of voters said that Biden legitimately won the election. The same share also said that Biden did not win fairly.

The numbers are in stark contrast to Iowa, where about two-thirds of voters said that Biden did not win legitimately.

Nikki Haley has criticized Donald Trump for his lies about the 2020 election and has said that Jan. 6 was a “terrible day.”

“Biden won that election. And the idea that [Trump’s] gone and carried this out forever, to the point that he’s going to continue to say these things to scare the American people, are wrong,” Haley said in a debate on Jan. 10.

— Ryan Anastasio

All eyes have been on New Hampshire today, except for those of incumbent President Joe Biden, who held a campaign event with Vice President Kamala Harris nearly 500 miles away in Virginia to attack former president Donald Trump’s anti-abortion agenda.

“The reason women are being forced to travel across state lines for health care is Donald Trump. The reason their family members are getting threatened with prosecution is because of Donald Trump. And the reason their fundamental rights have been stripped away is Donald Trump,” Biden said.

The Virginia rally took place as New Hampshire voters headed to primary polls, where Biden was not on the ballot and not campaigning.

This week would have marked the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade if it had not been overturned by the conservative-majority Supreme Court in June 2022, a reversal that has proven unpopular with voters.

As Biden lags on issues like immigration and the economy, his reelection campaign has turned its attention to reproductive health care and abortion rights, aligning the incumbent president with the sentiment of many Americans.

The full cast of the Biden-Harris 2024 campaign turned out for this Virginia event, including first lady Dr. Jill Biden and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff.

Throughout the rally, calls were heard of “four more years,” while protesters attacked his support for Israel in the ongoing war in Gaza and called for a cease-fire.

— Rebecca Picciotto

Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley said she will not exit the presidential race if she loses Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary.

“At the end of the day, it’s about the energy, it’s about the momentum, and it’s about if it looks like we are putting up a good challenge to Donald Trump,” Haley told Fox News in an interview Tuesday morning.

Haley Campaign Manager Betsy Ankney outlined a path for the campaign through Super Tuesday on March 5, when voters will head to the polls in more than a dozen states.

“Until then, everyone should take a deep breath. The campaign has not even begun in any of these
states yet. No ads have been aired and candidates aren’t hustling on the ground,” Ankney wrote in a Tuesday memo.

New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Chris Ager said the Haley campaign will need to reassess their path forward if Trump wins by double-digits in the state.

“I can envision a double-digit Trump win ends the primary. And if Nikki Haley wins, then you know, buckle up, it’s going to be a good one,” Ager told NBC News on Monday.

New Hampshire Democratic primary voters will see the names of 21 Democratic candidates on their ballots.

While Biden is projected to win the majority of Democratic votes, despite the Democratic National Committee’s decision to keep his name off the ballot over a dispute with New Hampshire party officials, Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., and Marianne Williamson are both still hoping to stay in the race. In December, Phillips’ support was at around 10% and Williamson’s was 7%.

Phillips, who has been a longshot challenging the incumbent president since last October, is a former businessman elected to public office in 2018. He co-founded Minnesota coffee shop chain Penny’s Coffee after serving as executive chairman of Talenti Gelato, and as president of his family’s distillery and liquor brand from the early ’90s until 2012.

Phillips announced in November that he would not seek reelection to the House in 2024.

Williamson is a lecturer and author of over a dozen books, and she ran as an Independent in 2014 to represent California in the House. She also ran for president in 2020 as a Democrat, but dropped out early in the contest.

—Chelsey Cox

Just under half of New Hampshire Republican primary voters today identified as independents, according to early results from the NBC News exit poll. 45% of voters so far said they were independents while 47% identified as Republicans.

The share of Republican primary voters who identify as independent is higher today than it was in 2016, the last time there was a competitive Republican primary. That year, 42% of voters in the GOP contest said they were independents.

Eight percent of voters today in the Republican primary said they were Democrats, which is more than double the 3% share in 2016.

Registered Democrats are prohibited from voting in the state’s Republican primary, so the self-identified Democrats are likely undeclared, that is, not registered with either party.

Around 40% of the New Hampshire electorate is undeclared, and polls suggest these voters are more likely to tilt towards former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley than registered Republicans, who tend to tilt towards former President Donald Trump.

Experts said higher turnout among undeclared voters could benefit Haley, who polls suggest voters see as more moderate than Trump.

— Ryan Anastasio

NASHUA, N.H. — The effort to deliver Joe Biden a victory in the state’s Democratic primary is well underway, even though the president isn’t on the ballot.

“There’s a lot on the line,” said Sonia Prince, an activist and volunteer for the Democratic incumbent’s write-in campaign.

A win for Biden will “show the country that we still support him, and we support democracy and we support women’s rights,” Prince said outside a polling location at Amherst Street Elementary School.

Prince, carrying a placard urging passing voters to “ask me about writing in Joe Biden,” stood a few feet from a handful of pro-Trump demonstrators.

Breaking with decades of tradition, the Democratic National Committee this year is recognizing South Carolina as the nation’s first primary election. The change, which drew the ire of some New Hampshire officials, followed Biden’s recommendation.

The Granite State is holding a Democratic primary election anyway, featuring 21 candidates other than Biden.

“I totally agree with” the change, Prince said, because New Hampshire is “not really the best snapshot of America.” She noted that South Carolina is more racially diverse than the Granite State, which is overwhelmingly white.

Prince said she was motivated by her support for Biden, not merely her opposition to Donald Trump. But she still expressed concern about the Republican former president getting into office again.

“We’re going to be feeling the pain of Donald Trump for years to come,” she said. “I mean, I don’t want this for me or my kids.”

— Kevin Breuninger

New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan said that he and other top elections officials in other states will “have to find ways to combat” the use of technology to create realistic-sounding — but fake — robocalls like the one made to Granite State residents in the days before the primary.

In that call, an artificially generated voice of President Joe Biden urged people not to vote in the primary, saying it would not make a difference.

“That call is very concerning because it is a form of voter suppression and it is illegal,” Scanlan said in an interview with MSNBC.

The fake Biden call, which is being investigated by the New Hampshire attorney general’s office, told people, “It’s important that you save your vote for the November election.”

“Voting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again,” the call says. Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.”

These kinds of phony calls have worried “secretaries of state around the country,” said Scanlan.

– Dan Mangan

The official answer to that question is, New Hampshire will not impact the Democratic nomination at all.

And President Joe Biden’s name will not appear printed on the New Hampshire primary ballot.

Under Biden’s advisement, the Democratic National Committee selected South Carolina to be 2024’s first official Democratic primary, breaking a century-long tradition of New Hampshire going first.

Some context for that decision: In 2020, Biden secured just 8% of the vote in the Granite State, a major disappointment. But he won South Carolina with 48% of the vote.

Furious at the new timeline, New Hampshire went against the DNC’s guidance and scheduled its primary to happen first anyway, saying state law required it.

As a result, Biden’s name is not on today’s Democratic primary ballot.

Though New Hampshire has 10 delegates who will attend the Democratic National Convention, none of them will be pledged to a candidate tonight, because this is not a sanctioned primary. In other words, tonight’s primary bears no official weight on the Democratic nomination.

— Rebecca Picciotto

On the record, President Joe Biden is not actively competing in today’s New Hampshire primary: His name is not listed on ballots and he has held no official campaign events.

But unofficially, Biden supporters are still going for the win. Though the president has not campaigned in the Granite State himself, some surrogates have organized write-in events, teaching and encouraging New Hampshire Democrats to write “Joe Biden” on their ballots.

Write-in campaigns are hard to pull off, and there is no real benchmark on which to measure Biden’s performance.

Plus, as a non-DNC-sanctioned primary, New Hampshire will not award any delegates tonight. So determining a capital-V Victory for Biden may just be a matter of spin.

Some say the president needs at least 50% of the vote to create a narrative of momentum going into the official primaries. Roughly 88,000 Democrats are expected to turn out to vote. Biden is up against House Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., and author Marianne Williamson, both polling significantly behind him, though their names are on the New Hampshire ballot.

— Rebecca Picciotto

As of midday, voting in the primary was proceeding without major issues, New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan said in an interview with MSNBC.

“Everything is running very smoothly,” Scanlan said.

Any problems that have occurred at polling places have been addressed quickly, he said.

Scanlan said it was too early to know if turnout would exceed his prediction, of about 320,000 Republican primary voters, and 80,000 Democratic ballots.

“We will have the results of both the Republican primary and the Democratic primary before the night is over,” he added.

– Dan Mangan

Donald Trump campaigned in New Hampshire on the promise to cut corporate taxes for a second time, if he were elected president.

In a little-noticed clip from a recent Fox News interview that took place in New Hampshire, the former president was asked whether, if he were president, he would “do larger tax cuts? Corporate tax cuts?”

“I was planning on it. Had the result been different. The result was just fine, by the way,” Trump said, in what appeared to be an unusual commentary on the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump falsely claims was stolen.

In 2017, Trump signed a landmark tax cuts bill that brought the corporate tax rate to 21%, down from 35%.

– Brian Schwartz

NASHUA, N.H. — Even in one of the nation’s northernmost states, the southern border is top of mind for supporters of Donald Trump.

“I think we’re done for good,” if President Joe Biden is reelected, because of “everybody coming over the border,” said Ruth Bealand, 83. “He took our borders down, and we’re not safe anymore,” she said of Biden, a Democrat.

“The border’s number one,” said David, 79, who asked that his last name not be used. His wife Julia, 72, agreed.

Trump is “going to put all those immigrants back where they belong,” said Julia, before quickly clarifying, “We all come from immigrants. But our immigrants, our family, did it the right way.”

— Kevin Breuninger

New Hampshire primary voters are mostly white and have a higher income than the national average, according to federal demographic data.

The state’s estimated population in July 2023 was slightly over 1.4 million, of which 92.6% are white, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Median annual household income was $90,845 from 2018 to 2022 — over $16,000 more than the national median income per household in 2022.

The unemployment rate in the Granite State is also lower than the national average: In October, it was 2.1%, 1.5 percentage points below the national unemployment rate that month of 3.6%.

Yet it remains to be seen how New Hampshire’s particular demographic and economic makeup affect the choices its voters make at the polls.

Nationwide surveys consistently show that the overall strength of the U.S. economy in recent years has not translated into higher rates of voter approval of President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy.

State-by-state inflation rates are difficult to calculate, but polls clearly point to a link between post-pandemic jumps in consumer prices and voter frustration with Biden.

— Chelsey Cox

The Virginia home of a top U.S. cybersecurity official whose work includes securing the nation’s elections was swatted in late December, authorities said.

Arlington Police said a 911 call on Dec. 30 falsely reported a shooting at the residence of Jen Easterly, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA.

The incident is the latest in a string of reported swatting calls targeting public figures who have been criticized by former President Donald Trump. Special counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting Trump in two federal cases, was swatted on Christmas Day. Two judges presiding over cases involving the former president have also been targeted.

“These incidents pose a serious risk to the individuals, their families, and in the case of swatting, to the law enforcement officers responding to the situation,” Easterly said in a statement.

“While my own experience was certainly harrowing, it was unfortunately not unique. In particular, several of our nation’s election officials have also been targeted with this type of harassment and other threats of violence,” Easterly said.

“The men and women of both parties who run our elections work tirelessly to ensure their security and integrity. We at CISA, along with our partners, will continue to support these election heroes as they work every day to safeguard our most sacred democratic process.”

— Dan Mangan

Write-in voting is the only way New Hampshire Democrats can cast a ballot for incumbent President Joe Biden, if they so choose.

To do so, voters must fill in the “Write-In” bubble, located on the last line of the ballot. In the corresponding line to the left, they must write the name of their preferred candidate.

The write-in votes will be hand-counted by poll workers who will determine a ballot’s vote based on “intent,” Secretary of State David Scanlan told NBC. Write-in ballots will count if a poll worker can reasonably figure out what the voter intended.

“If it’s a phonetic spelling, then it will likely be counted. If it is simply a first name, Joe, and there may be other Joes on the ballot, then that’s a different situation,” Scanlan said.

The final tally should become available around 11 p.m. ET.

Besides Biden, a progressive network online is encouraging voters to write “cease-fire” on their ballots, to protest U.S. support of Israel in its ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza.

— Rebecca Picciotto

NASHUA, N.H. — The primary drives a lot of spending in the Granite State — but the election economy isn’t limited to TV ad sales and hotel rooms.

At Ledge Street Elementary School, one of this city’s nine polling locations, a parent-teacher organization is capitalizing on the steady flow of foot traffic with a bake sale.

Residents heading inside to vote will pass by a trio of fold-out tables piled high with cookies, cupcakes, dipped pretzels and an array of other homemade and home-wrapped goods from about 20 parents.

It’s prime real estate, but there’s no price-gouging here: Most of the goods sell for 50 cents, though larger items, like the postcard-sized “I Voted” cookies, fetch $1.

The PTO’s last bake sale, at a state-level election in November, netted around $300, said Amy Shuler, a fifth-grade teacher and the group’s treasurer. Some of that total came from donations, she noted.

This time around has already been much busier, she said.

The money helps fund field days, assemblies, playground equipment and sometimes even classroom supplies.

There’s “a lot of generosity toward the PTO,” said Shuler.

— Kevin Breuninger

Four of New Hampshire’s 10 counties could be key bellwethers to watch tonight to gauge all-important voter turnout, according to the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Hillsborough, Rockingham, Stafford and Merrimack counties together comprise 75% of the primary electorate.

Since 1952, seven towns in New Hampshire have consistently gone to the eventual winner of the state’s Republican primary. Four of them are located in three of those counties, NBC News reported.

Trump won the city of Rochester in Stafford County by 20 points in 2016, close to his 23-point margin of victory in New Hampshire that year, according to NBC.

Hillsborough County made up nearly 30% of the primary vote in 2016, while 1 out of 4 votes came from Rockingham County. Merrimack County, located west of Stafford, was home to 12% of Republican primary voters in 2016.

— Chelsey Cox

The New Hampshire Republican primary campaign will have cost over $70 million in advertisements, according to data from AdImpact.

The massive amount of ad money was split between the campaigns and supportive political action committees of Donald Trump, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis. The ads aired on television, radio and digital platforms.

Haley will wrap up the New Hampshire primary riding on a wave of $30 million in ad support, which includes over $18 million from a pro-Haley super PAC, SFA Fund Inc.

Trump and his supportive super PAC have invested more than $15 million in ads in New Hampshire.

— Brian Schwartz