SALT LAKE CITY — Democratic presidential hopefuls have put New Hampshire in their rearview mirrors after a primary that narrowed the field but left several candidates with plenty of open road in the 2020 presidential race.
New England’s native son, Sen. Bernie Sanders, narrowly won the New Hampshire primary over former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, while Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar continued to surge.
President Donald Trump easily won the Republican primary with 85.5% of the vote. The top Democratic contenders to face him in November (with 98% of the vote accounted):
- Sen. Bernie Sanders, 25.7%.
- Pete Buttigieg, 24.4%.
- Sen. Amy Klobuchar, 19.8%.
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 9.2%.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, 8.4%.
Warren’s results were particularly disappointing as New England did not appear to give the Massachusetts senator a home-field advantage. But Biden, the former vice president many expected to lead the race, left the state for South Carolina before the polls even closed.
Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, entrepreneur Andrew Yang and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick have all suspended their campaigns since Tuesday night.
Here are few things we can learn from the nation’s first primary.
Electability matters
Sanders lost among New Hampshire voters focused most on beating Trump, Vox reported Wednesday.
Exit polls showed 63% of primary voting New Hampshirites thought it was more important to beat Trump than to support a candidate that values similar issues, according to The Washington Post. Among these voters, 28% said they voted for Buttigieg while 21% supported Sanders. On the other hand, the senator from Vermont swept the small group of issues-oriented voters with nearly 40% of their support.
“If Democrats continue focusing on beating Trump, but continue believing that Sanders is not the best person to do that, the party may have a hard time uniting behind Sanders, even if he is the frontrunner,” German Lopez writes in his analysis for Vox.
The ‘comeback kid’
Klobuchar’s 3rd-place finish in New Hampshire ‘shocked the establishent,’ NPR reported Wednesday. Almost 20% cast their ballot for Klobuchar on Tuesday, finishing ahead of Warren and Biden and just behind Sanders and Buttigieg.
“Amy Klobuchar just shocked the establishment,” Howard Dean — former Vermont politician and Democratic National Committee chair — told CNN Wednesday morning.
Debora Pignatelli of the New Hampshire executive counsel called Klobuchar “our comeback kid,” according to Politico reporter Stephanie Murray.
Democrats have a long way to go
The New Hampshire results signal a long nationwide Democratic battle, longtime politics reporter and staff writer John Cassidy wrote in The New Yorker.
Cassidy writes that nearly half of the half of pledged delegates will be sussed out in the next month. A successful candidate will have four things, he writes: “a clear message, a lot of money (to pay for staffers and advertising), a national network of supporters, and a diverse set of voters.”
“In short,” Cassidy wrote, “there is still a great deal of uncertainty, and a lot more sorting to be done.”