Presidential hopeful Nikki Haley saw her campaign stall after Iowa’s GOP caucus earlier this month.
However, Haley has long been polling better in New Hampshire than Iowa… and her campaign just got a boost during the first few minutes of the primary.
On Tuesday, Haley won every registered voter in Dixville Notch, a New Hampshire town of six people. In other words, she won the first six votes in this year’s primaries.
The six voters all cast their ballots for Haley at midnight on Tuesday.
Dixville Notch, a resort town only 20 miles from Canada, has a 64-year tradition of first-in-the-nation voting, dating back to 1960. In some previous elections, a few other New Hampshire towns have also voted at midnight, but this year Dixville Notch went it alone.
The voting took place in a new location, the living room of Tillotson House, with the Balsams Resort undergoing renovations. It made for a congenial setting, with an 11-month-old golden retriever named Maxine greeting media and voters.
Dixville Notch, with its small sample of voters, doesn’t always predict the results of the GOP’s primary.
Trump lost the town 3-2 in 2016, and he went on to win the party’s nomination handily. He even won New Hampshire’s primary by 19 points that year.
However, the winner of Dixville Notch became the GOP’s nominee in every election from 1968 to 2012.
Plus, Dixville Notch welcomes a media frenzy every year. They were outnumbered more than 10-to-1 by reporters from every corner of the globe. The town was even featured in an episode of the series The West Wing.
Now, Haley is hoping the town will provide not only some media coverage, but also some momentum.
Haley trumpeted her small victory as “a great start to a great day in New Hampshire.” She made the remarks shortly after midnight in a statement. She added, “Thank you Dixville Notch!”
Former President Donald Trump won Iowa this year by about 30 points. In the event of a New Hampshire victory, Trump would be the first Republican presidential candidate to win open races in Iowa and New Hampshire since 1976.
Despite Trump’s domoinance, Haley has resisted calls to suspend her campaign.
“We’re going to South Carolina,” she told reporters. “This has always been a marathon. It’s never been a sprint.”
Take a look at the media circus —
Reporter @KassyDillon is on the ground in New Hampshire with one of the just six voters registered to vote in Dixville Notch, where voting will begin at midnight tonight.
The Republican primary voter tells us who she's voting for. pic.twitter.com/ynlqUPDZxF
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) January 22, 2024
In the middle of northern New Hampshire, in a small town known as Dixville Notch, beginning at midnight the ‘First in the Nation’ votes were casted and all six votes were for Nikki Haley https://t.co/bz8Pl1LeRP pic.twitter.com/QMcIoxkw7a
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 23, 2024
JUST IN: The first six votes of the New Hampshire primary are in from Dixville Notch, New Hampshire.
Nikki Haley got all 6 votes.
Donald Trump got no votes.
Dixville Notch voting at midnight is a 64-year-old tradition. pic.twitter.com/YBwOQ5ND4f
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 23, 2024
Les Otten, the principal owner and developer of the Balsams Resort, praised his community for high rate of turnout.
“It’s special. It really is,” Otten said. “It’s what ought to happen in every community in the United States, where there is 100% participation, everybody votes. None of the six of us can complain about the outcome of the election, because we’ve participated.”
Of the six voters in the state’s GOP primary, four were registered Republicans.
Two were independents or, in New Hampshire’s terminology, “undeclared” voters. No registered Democrats live in Dixville Notch.
The Horn editorial team