If you didn’t take Donald Trump seriously when he reshaped the Republican presidential race and led the field for many long months, believe it now: The billionaire real estate developer converted fans into voters to win the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary.
TV news networks quickly declared Trump the winner about an hour after polls closed, due to across-the-board support in the small northeastern state. With about 70% of precincts reporting, Trump had 34.3% of the vote. Ohio governor John Kasich made a strong second-place finish with 16.3%, Ted Cruz had 11.5%, Jeb Bush had 11.2%, and Marco Rubio had 10.5%.
Trump’s victory comes only a day after he roused his supporters and horrified many observers with a display of coarse language that insulted senator Ted Cruz, who beat him in the Iowa caucus.
“Five thousand people went nuts—they loved it,” Trump told Fox News today. “And you know we were having fun and that’s what I mean about being politically correct, every once in a while you can have a little fun, don’t you think?”