Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt. and Republican candidate Donald Trump came out on top in the New Hampshire primaries Tuesday.
The wins followed two secondplace finishes for the candidates in the Iowa caucuses Feb. 1. By 10:45 p.m. Tuesday, with about 70 percent reporting, Sanders was beating Clinton by a wide margin with 59.8 percent of the vote compared to her 38.5 percent.
Clinton conceded to Sanders as soon as the polls closed at 8 p.m. The result was a contrast to the Iowa caucus, which Clinton won over Sanders by 0.3 percent of the vote on Feb. 1.
Trump also won decisively in his party, with 34.3 percent of the vote by 10:45 p.m. with about 70 percent reporting. The candidate closest to Trump was Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, with 16.3 percent of the vote. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, earned 11.5 percent of the vote.
In Iowa, Trump lost to Cruz by 3.3 percent. In his victory speech, Sanders expressed gratitude for his supporters and said he has received individual contributions from more than 3.7 million people, which is the largest number of individual contributions to any candidate at this point in a presidential election. He was met with applause when he said the average contribution was $27.
“We won because of your energy,” Sanders said. “Together we have sent the message that we’ll echo … the government of our great country belongs to all of the people and not just a few wealthy campaign contributors and their super PACS.”
Sanders said that, as president, he would avoid big cuts to Social Security, veterans’ needs, education, Medicare and Medicaid. He also said he would increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour and make public colleges tuition-free, using funds from a tax on “Wall Street speculation.”
“Together we are gonna create an economy that works for all of us,” Sanders said, “not just the one percent.”
While Sanders gave his speech in the center of a large, crowded auditorium, Trump gave his on a stage in front of what seemed to be a smaller crowd. In his victory speech, Trump thanked his family and the citizens of New Hampshire.
In a sharp contrast to Sanders, who spoke against the “same-old, same-old establishment politics and establishment economics,” Trump said he would “make America great again … the oldfashioned way.”
Trump said that as president he would “make great trade deals,” build the military, build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, end drug addiction and get rid of Common Core education. Trump said that one of the differences between his campaign and those of the other candidates is that his is self-funded, with no contributions from special interest groups.
“New Hampshire. We love you. We’re gonna be back a lot. We’re not gonna forget about you,” Trump said.
According to the “Washington Post,” every Republican and Democratic nominee for the general election since 1980 has finished in first or second place in the New Hampshire primaries.