remains the only incumbent president to lose the New Hampshire primary. New Hampshire has held a presidential primary since 1916 and started the tradition of being the first presidential primary in the United States starting in 1920. Until 1948, the New Hampshire primary, like most of the small number of other primaries in the country, listed only the names of local citizens who wanted to be delegates to the state convention. In 1948, Richard F. Upton, speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives decided to make the primary "more interesting and meaningful…so there would be a greater turnout at the polls." The state legislature passed a law allowing citizens to vote directly for the presidential candidates. Any candidate could get on the ballot if he submitted fifty supporting petitions from each of the two congressional districts. Voters could choose delegates who were explicitly pledged to a particular candidate. New Hampshire did not begin to assume its current importance until 1952. In that year,
Dwight D. Eisenhower demonstrated his broad voter appeal by defeating
Robert A. Taft, "Mr. Republican", who had been favored for the nomination, and
Estes Kefauver defeated incumbent President
Harry S. Truman, leading Truman to abandon his campaign for a second term of his own. The other president to be forced out of the running for re-election by New Hampshire voters was
Lyndon Johnson, who, as a
write-in candidate, managed only a 49–42 percent victory over
Eugene McCarthy in 1968, and won fewer delegates than McCarthy, and consequently withdrew from the race. The winner in New Hampshire has not always won their party's nomination, as demonstrated by Republicans
Leonard Wood in
1920,
Harold Stassen in 1948,
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. as a write-in candidate in 1964,
Pat Buchanan in 1996, and
John McCain in 2000, and Democrats
Estes Kefauver in 1952 and 1956,
Paul Tsongas in 1992,
Hillary Clinton in 2008, and
Bernie Sanders in 2016 and
2020. From 1952 to 1988, the person elected president had always carried the primary.
Bill Clinton broke the pattern in 1992, as did
George W. Bush in 2000,
Barack Obama in 2008, and
Joe Biden in 2020. In 1992, Clinton lost to
Paul Tsongas in New Hampshire. In 2000, George W. Bush lost to John McCain in New Hampshire. In 2008,
Barack Obama lost to
Hillary Clinton. In 2020,
Joe Biden lost to
Bernie Sanders.
1968 In November 1967,
Eugene McCarthy declared, "there comes a time when an honorable man simply has to raise the flag" and entered the New Hampshire Democratic primary. On March 12, 1968, McCarthy, who was the only candidate on the ballot, came within 7 percentage points of defeating President
Lyndon Johnson, a write-in candidate who was technically still exploring his candidacy and had not bothered to file. Just a few days later, on March 16, 1968,
Robert F. Kennedy entered the
race for President. Johnson subsequently withdrew from the election with this
Shermanesque statement: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president." One minor candidate in the Republican primary was
William W. Evans Jr., a former New Jersey State Assemblyman, who received just 151 votes statewide. The 1968 New Hampshire Democratic primary was one of the crucial events in the politics of that landmark year in United States history. Senator
Eugene McCarthy began his campaign with a poem that he wrote in imitation of the poet
Robert Lowell, "Are you running with me Jesus":
1980 George H. W. Bush emerged as the front-runner of the 1980 Republican presidential primary after his upset
Iowa caucus victory over
Ronald Reagan. Bush and Reagan became the two leading candidates in the primaries over the other four candidates. With the other candidates in single digits, the
Nashua Telegraph offered to host a debate between Reagan and Bush. Worried that a newspaper-sponsored debate might violate electoral regulations, Reagan arranged to fund the event with his own campaign money, inviting the other candidates to participate at short notice. The Bush camp did not learn of Reagan's decision to include the other candidates until the debate was due to begin. Bush refused to participate, which led to an impasse on the stage. As Reagan attempted to explain his decision, Jon Breen, the editor of the
Nashua Telegraph and debate moderator, ordered Bob Malloy, the volume operator, to mute Reagan's microphone. When Malloy refused, Breen repeated his order. A visibly angry Reagan responded, "I am paying for this microphone, Mr. , referring to the editor and debate moderator Jon Breen. Reagan eventually secured the nomination, and selected Bush as his running mate. The two won the general election.
1992 Bill Clinton was able to declare himself the "Comeback Kid" after posting a surprise second-place finish behind
Paul Tsongas in the Democratic primary. Clinton's support had been flagging for weeks since being hit by allegations of infidelity with actress
Gennifer Flowers. On the Republican side,
Pat Buchanan garnered an unexpected 37% showing behind incumbent President
George H. W. Bush. Buchanan did not win a single state, but revealed some doubts about the moderate president among conservative voters.
2000 George W. Bush's campaign, which for months had dominated in polling, money and endorsements on the Republican side, suffered a blow when John McCain, who had been surging in late polls, ended up beating the governor in New Hampshire by more than 18 points. The result forecast a tough two-man race for the GOP nomination, which carried on until Super Tuesday in March.
Al Gore helped himself with a narrow win in the Democratic primary, which somewhat assuaged his supporters' concerns about
Bill Bradley's insurgent campaign.
2004 Senator
John Kerry secured a decisive victory with 35% of the vote, 10 percentage points more than second-place finisher
Howard Dean.
2008 Hillary Clinton managed an upset win over
Barack Obama in New Hampshire, despite polls showing her as much as 13 points behind in the run-up to the vote. The win helped Clinton get back some of the momentum she lost the week before when Obama carried the Iowa caucuses—though Obama eventually won the Democratic nomination.
John McCain won the Republican primary, sparking an unexpected comeback for the senator whose long-shot campaign had been written off as a lost cause months before. He went on to win the GOP nomination.
2016 Bernie Sanders defeated
Hillary Clinton by 22 percentage points. Sanders amassed 152,193 votes in total, earning him 15 delegates, while Clinton managed 95,252 votes with 9 delegates. Together with
Donald Trump's double-digit win in the GOP race, the primary results revealed voter frustrations with mainstream "establishment" politicians.
2020 Bernie Sanders narrowly placed first in the Democratic primary once again, edging out former
Mayor of South Bend Pete Buttigieg with 76,384 votes to 72,454.
Incumbent President Donald Trump won an overwhelming victory in the Republican primary with 129,734 votes, beating former
Governor of Massachusetts Bill Weld by over 75 percentage points and receiving the most votes in the New Hampshire primary for an incumbent candidate in U.S. history, breaking Bill Clinton's 1996 record of 76,797.
2024 President
Joe Biden was a
write-in candidate due to the
Democratic primary scheduling controversy; he won the Democratic race with over 64 percent of the vote. Donald Trump won the Republican primary with about 54 percent of the vote, beating
Nikki Haley's approximate 43 percent. ==Democratic results==