New Hampshire primary updates: Haley hits Trump and Biden on age at polls in Hampton

HAMPTON — Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley attacked Donald Trump’s age while visiting the polls in Hampton with Gov. Chris Sununu Tuesday.

Haley said Trump is “mentally fit,” but she said voters need to ask whether they want “two 80-year-olds” in Trump and President Joe Biden on the ticket in November. Trump is 77.

“When you’ve got a country in disarray and a world on fire the way we do,” Haley said, “you need someone at the top of their game that can put in eight years and get things back on track.”

Haley was trailing Trump in the polls by 22% Tuesday morning, according to an NBC poll. She has lasted longer in the race than other Republicans, however, like Ron DeSantis, who dropped out this week.

New Hampshire voters head to polls for primary

Today, voters across the Granite State head to the polls to cast ballots in a New Hampshire presidential primary that has been unusual, to say the least.

After hundreds of town hall meetings, rallies and millions spent in advertising, just two major Republican candidates remain standing in the Republican primary: former President Donald Trump and former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley.

On the Democratic side, incumbent president Joe Biden’s name doesn’t even appear on the ballot, due to a primary calendar dispute between the Democratic National Committee and New Hampshire.

Republicans began the primary contest with a robust field of candidates.

In August, eight Republican candidates for president took the debate stage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, while former President Trump aired his own competing interview with Tucker Carlson at the same time. Slowly, month by month, those candidates dropped out of the race, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis being the latest to fall on Sunday.

Top state and national Democrats are urging voters to write in Biden’s name on the Democratic ballot as a show of support and to prevent him from being embarrassed by challengers Dean Phillips, a congressman from Minnesota and author Marianne Williamson, who also ran in 2020.

2024 voter guide: Here is a look at where candidates stand on the issues

When will we see results in the NH primary?

The results of the New Hampshire primary could have an outsized impact on the future of the presidential nominating contest. Will it wrap up quickly with parties uniting behind the president and the former president, or will future battles will between Haley and Trump be fought in Nevada, South Carolina and beyond?

Polling times Tuesday vary across the state but most open no later than 7 a.m. and close at 7 or 8 p.m. Results could come early in the night or much later if the voting is close.

Follow live reporting of results on our New Hampshire primary results page.

Key information for voters in Seacoast, across NH

Where can you vote today? Here's our list of polling times and places in Seacoast cities and towns and here's how to find polling places across New Hampshire. Need a way to get to polls on Seacoast? COAST Bus is offering free rides.

If you are not already registered, what do you need to bring to register to vote at polls today? Here's all the key information.

How are votes in the New Hampshire primary counted? Here's what you need to know.

What is expected from UNH student vote in Durham?

DURHAM — University of New Hampshire students and the town's resident population both lean heavily Democratic and can turn out voters in droves. That may result in a smaller turnout this year, in a race heavily focused on the Republican race, according to Town Administrator Todd Selig and Town Clerk Rachel Deane.

In 2012, fewer than 2,000 people voted in the presidential primary in Durham with Democratic incumbent President Barack Obama facing no serious competition. But in the last two election cycles, 2016 and 2020, Durham saw a big jump with between 5,000 and 6,000 voters.

The 2020 race had a competitive Democratic primary. Deane said of same-day registrations that year, 92 registered as Republicans, 710 as Democrat, and 654 as undeclared. In total, 1,456 voters registered on primary day.

What complicates predicting this cycle is the write-in campaign for Biden.

“There are a lot of people in New Hampshire who are very upset about the efforts of the Democratic National Committee to strip New Hampshire of its first in the nation status. That is clear,” said Selig. “But it’s unclear how that will impact participation at the polls.”

Deane said Durham is right on track with with absentee ballot requests: In 2020, there were 400 and there were 350 in 2024 as of Monday, with more expected.

Two local NH House seats on the ballot

Special elections are being held for two New Hampshire House seats today.

In Newington and in Portsmouth Ward 1, two Democrats from Portsmouth, former state Rep. Jacqueline Cali-Pitts and public health researcher Jennifer Mandelbaum, are running for the Rockingham County District 21 House position vacated last month. The winner of this primary will run unopposed in the March 12 special election as no Republicans filed for election.

Former state Rep. Robin Vogt, a Democrat formerly of Portsmouth, held the seat but resigned on Dec. 1 when he moved to Durham. Cali-Pitts occupied the House seat from 1998 until she was upset by Vogt in the fall 2022 primary.

Lee and Madbury residents, as well as voters from Ward 4 in Dover, will vote for a new representative following the death of former state Rep. Hoy Robert Menear III in November. Menear served as the House member from Strafford County District 11.

Democratic voters will see a contested primarybetween two Lee candidates, Erik Johnson and Jeffrey C. Salloway. Johnson sits on the town’s Energy Commission and Community Power Committee, the Advisory Budget Committee and the Sustainability Committee, while Salloway is a former New Hampshire House of Representatives member who served between 2016 and 2022.

The Democratic winner will go against Republican candidate Joseph Bazo of Madbury in the March 12 special election.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: NH primary election updates: Haley hits Trump and Biden on age