The results are in. There were no major surprises when it came to the winners of the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, February 9: Donald Trump topped the Republican field, while Bernie Sanders beat out Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side.
Both presidential candidates had long held the lead in New Hampshire and were predicted to win, with CNN, The New York Times and the Associated Press declaring them winners before all the votes had been counted.
The big battle of the night remained who would be named the Republican runner-up. CNN declared that John Kasich came in at No. 2 with only a few percentage points separating him from Ted Cruz (who beat Trump in Iowa) and Jeb Bush.
Confident Trump supporters could be heard cheering at the billionaire businessman’s headquarters as the polls closed in New Hampshire at 8 p.m. EST and initial poll results showed the former Apprentice star leading the field by almost 20 percent.
Trump was quick to claim victory on his Facebook page, posting a picture that called the result “A win for America.”
He began his speech by remembering his late parents and thanked his siblings before calling out wife Melania, saying, “What she puts up with — ugh!”
While Sanders and Clinton were practically tied in Iowa, with the former Secretary of State beating the senator from Vermont by less than a percentage point, Sanders surged in New Hampshire, beating the former first lady by several points.
Clinton congratulated Sanders on his win in a concession speech and said, “I still love New Hampshire and I always will. Now we take this campaign to the entire country.”
Shortly afterward, Sanders took to the stage and referenced the record-breaking voter turnout in the state, which he described, in the words of Trump, as “yuuuge.”
“What happened here in New Hampshire,” he continued, “that is what will happen all over this country.”
The next primaries are set to take place in South Carolina and Nevada later this month.
