Trump, Haley make their final pitches before New Hampshire primary: Highlights

The battle is on for Gen Z’s votes.

A liberal political advocacy group said Monday that it had bought up two website domains to steer young voters away from the leading GOP candidates: Trump and Haley.

Voters of Tomorrow, a Gen Z-run advocacy organization, snagged the URLs GenZforTrump.org and GenZforHaley.org to redirect users to GenZvsFarRight.org.

The initiative is designed to educate young voters about Trump’s and Haley’s agendas to show “their visions are overwhelmingly unpopular with young voters,” said Jack Lobel, the organization’s national press secretary.

Read the full story here.

New Hampshire has historically been the state that introduces presidential candidates to the rest of the nation.

The first six ballots of the 2024 primary season were cast at midnight today in the small town of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire.

Trump received no votes and Haley received all six. Four of the voters were registered Republicans, while two were undeclared.

“A great start to a great day in New Hampshire,” Haley said in a campaign news release. “Thank you Dixville Notch!”

Voters placed their ballots in a wooden box at midnight in a tradition that has endured since 1960, with a town moderator tabulating the ballots, filling out the necessary paperwork and recording the results on a board. Dixville Notch has the longest run of midnight voting.

In 1988, the town had its highest number of midnight votes cast — 38 — since the tradition began.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has called New Hampshire voters “presidential wine tasters” for their insistence on meeting candidates in person, sometimes repeatedly, before they consider voting for them.

Tomorrow, those voters will make their 2024 presidential picks, and what they saw on the trail and how they made their decisions will tell us a lot about American politics for the rest of a big election year.

NBC News has spoken to hundreds of New Hampshire voters over seven months to understand how some of the most openly strategic participants in the presidential race are thinking through 2024 right now.

The voter insights allowed NBC News to gather six big takeaways about the race.

Read the full story here.

Throughout New Hampshire, voters are making clear their frustration with the possibility of a Trump-Biden rematch in the general election.

A coalition of reproductive rights groups in Colorado officially kicked off an effort today to place an amendment on the November ballot that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.

Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom is beginning its signature-collection efforts with events throughout the state — timing its campaign launch with the 51st anniversary of the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, which, until it was overturned in 2022, had legalized abortion rights throughout the U.S.

The group’s efforts make Colorado the eighth state where reproductive rights groups have advanced efforts seeking to enshrine abortion rights in a state constitution via a citizen-led ballot initiative in 2024. Other states where similar efforts are underway include Florida, Arizona, Montana and Missouri.

Read the full story here.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — New Hampshire GOP Chairman Chris Ager said today that if Trump wins tomorrow’s primary by double digits, it might lead to Haley's departure.

“I think if he wins by double digits, it would perhaps be time for the Haley campaign to reassess whether they have a path forward,” said Ager, who hasn't endorsed a candidate. “I can envision a double-digit Trump win ends the primary.”

“If Nikki Haley wins, then you know, buckle up — it’s going to be a good one,” Ager added.

Three of Trump's former GOP primary opponents joined him onstage tonight at his final rally before New Hampshire voters head to the polls tomorrow.

Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott and Doug Burgum briefly addressed the crowd to reiterate their endorsements for the former president.

When a supporter yelled support for Ramaswamy later during the rally, Trump said, "I love him, too, now."

"I didn't love him when he was running, but I like him now," Trump said. "It’s amazing the way you can like somebody when you win."

Trump spoke for about 75 minutes.

Four candidates for a U.S. Senate seat in California squared off in their first debate today as they vie for a rare open seat vacated by the late Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

And Trump, the likely 2024 Republican presidential nominee, who would be all but guaranteed to get pummeled in the general election in the solidly blue state, played a starring role.

The three Democrats — U.S. Reps. Adam Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee — all sought to highlight their opposition to Trump and corner the lone Republican onstage, former baseball player Steve Garvey, for refusing to say whether he’d support Trump this fall.

Read the full story here.

This spring, high school seniors across the country will weigh school rankings, academic specialties and campus life as they decide where to commit to the next chapters of their lives. For some, there will be another factor to consider: state politics.

The Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022 — and clearing the way for some states to impose bans on abortion — changed the calculus for some students. Grace, a high school senior in South Carolina, grew more concerned about the idea of living in a state with limited access to abortion. She described feeling nervous that abortion bans would lead to more restrictions on women’s rights in general.

“I’m not comfortable with being in a state that doesn’t value who I am or value my rights as a person,” she said — a requirement that caught her mother, Andrea, off-guard.

Read the full story here.

Many disappointed Trump supporters were turned away tonight as the Margate Hotel in Laconia was quickly filled.

Trump's campaign rally in New Hampshire was interrupted at least four times tonight by protesters.

One protester chanted "oil sellout," and another interrupted by chanting "blood on his hands." It was not immediately clear what the other protesters were saying when they drew attention away from Trump.

There have been more than half a dozen protest interruptions at four Trump events over the past couple of weeks.

CLEVELAND — Three Republicans vying for Ohio’s competitive U.S. Senate seat argued at a televised debate here tonight not so much about who is best for the state, but rather who is best for Trump.

Businessman Bernie Moreno already has the former president's endorsement — a fact he shoehorned into the first 30 seconds of his response to the first question. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who a month ago predicted Trump would remain neutral, presented himself as an unshakable ally.

Then there was Matt Dolan, a state senator who has expressed a desire to move on from Trump and did not jockey for his endorsement but pledged onstage to support him if he is the GOP’s 2024 presidential nominee. Dolan, who was the night’s chief aggressor onstage, also asserted that, given his recent legislative experience, he is the most in sync with Trump while accusing his rivals of “phony” reverence.

Read the full story here.

Florida Democrats are issuing warnings about DeSantis' immediate next steps, while Republicans are sounding optimistic about Trump's prospects this year and DeSantis' chances on the national stage in 2028.

The Florida Democratic Party painted a picture of a “humiliated” governor back in Tallahassee who they said is ready to prove himself with a slew of restrictive actions that require Democrats to be on the offensive.

For some Republican voters, DeSantis' withdrawal from the presidential race comes with a sense of relief. “I love Gov. DeSantis, but we’ve got to have somebody who’s been there and has a proven record, like Trump,” Janet Pickens said. Her husband, Chuck, a fellow Tallahassee voter, added, “I’m just relieved for him and his wife that they’re going to get to come home and be governor of our state.”

A recent robocall from a fake President Joe Biden telling New Hampshire residents not to vote was almost certainly created with artificial intelligence, according to disinformation experts and people who study the technology.

The call, which the New Hampshire attorney general’s office has described as an apparent “unlawful attempt” to suppress voters from writing in Biden’s name in the state’s Democratic presidential primary tomorrow, is of unknown origin. Experts say it appears to be a deepfake — fake audio or video created with AI and designed to mimic real people, usually without their knowledge or consent.

“All signs point to it being a deepfake,” said Ben Colman, the CEO of Reality Defender, a company that creates software to test media files to see whether they appear artificially generated.

“We never say anything’s 100% certain, because we do not have the ground truth, but it’s highly likely manipulated,” Colman said.

Read the full story here.

In one of his first social media posts since he dropped his presidential bid, DeSantis indicated today that he does not support a newly proposed bill in the Florida Legislature that would allow for the use of state taxpayer money to help fund Trump’s legal defense.

The tweet comes a day after DeSantis endorsed Trump for president.

Haley is under pressure in New Hampshire, with new polls showing she’s trailing Trump by double digits. The Trump campaign was recently boosted by DeSantis' endorsement.

The Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission has dismissed a legal effort to remove Trump's name from the state's primary ballot over his alleged violation of the Constitution's 14th Amendment.

In a filing today, commissioners rejected the challenge, writing that they had "determined that the State Ballot Law Commission does not have jurisdiction over the matters presented."

The president of Free Speech for People, a liberal group representing voters in the Massachusetts case and in similar efforts in other states, criticized the decision in a statement.

“The Massachusetts Ballot Law Commission ignored its duty to enforce the mandate of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment and ensure that only eligible candidates appear on the state’s presidential primary ballot," John Bonifaz said. "We will be appealing this decision.”

HOLLIS, N.H. — A day after DeSantis dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump, the former president's oldest son said he's looking forward to DeSantis' eventually joining Trump onstage for a campaign event.

Donald Trump Jr. told reporters he's not concerned that DeSantis isn't appearing with his father tonight in New Hampshire. “I think it’s early,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a requirement. I’d love to see it in the future, but I understand why, a day later, it wouldn’t happen. That’s, you know, that’s called human nature, right?”

Asked by NBC's Hallie Jackson what a good night would look like tomorrow, Trump Jr. demurred. “I don’t know. You know what? I like wins. I don’t like when people say ‘You’re up by 4,762 points’ and then if you win by 4,700, they say it’s a gross failure. You know, I don’t like doing that. I don’t like setting unrealistic expectations.”

Speaking about Jan. 6, Trump Jr. appeared to acknowledge that his father oversaw an insurrection, albeit one he characterized as “unarmed.”

“They want to lock him up for a thousand years, apparently for overseeing the first unarmed insurrection in the history of insurrections,” Trump Jr. told the crowd at a vineyard here.

Through most of 2023, just a handful of states enacted laws to tackle the challenges that artificial intelligence and deepfakes posed to political campaigns. But now that the 2024 election cycle is in full force, state lawmakers across the country have snapped into action to try to deal with the thorny, quickly changing issue.

In just the first three weeks of 2024, lawmakers from both major parties have introduced legislation in at least 13 states to combat the kind of mis- and dis-information AI and deepfakes can create in elections.

The issue was back in the spotlight today after the emergence of a fake robocall featuring a voice impersonating Biden telling Democratic voters in New Hampshire not to cast their ballots in tomorrow's primary.

Read the full story here.

DeSantis has an open invitation to appear with Trump on the campaign trail when he’s ready to do so after high-level contact between the two camps yesterday — but no direct contact between the two former rivals — a Trump campaign official said.

The campaign official said that the offer was extended through high-level staff channels yesterday but that as of tonight the official knew of no contact between Trump and DeSantis.

The official did not expect DeSantis to appear with Trump tonight, tomorrow or imminently — but made clear that the door is open, as evidenced by Trump’s quick embrace of Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum after they endorsed him. All three are appearing with Trump tonight in Laconia.

With just 24 hours till the New Hampshire GOP primary, NBC News’ Ali Vitali catches up with one voter about whom he’ll vote for, instead — now that DeSantis has exited the race.

Rep. Jeff Duncan became the latest South Carolina Republican to endorse Trump over Haley, the state's former governor.

"I know that President Trump can fix the problems our nation faces and position America for sustainable success," Duncan wrote on X.

Rep. Nancy Mace, another South Carolina Republican, endorsed Trump earlier in the day.

Before today's endorsement, Duncan had stayed out of the GOP presidential primaries. Duncan told NBC News on Dec. 5: “I haven’t endorsed in the race because Tim Scott, Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo was running. Nikki Haley was my governor. I’ve got too many friends in the race. Ron DeSantis and I were very close, so I’m staying out of it.”

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had previously decided not to run for president, and former Vice President Mike Pence ended his White House bid in October. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., also ended his presidential campaign, as did DeSantis.

Haley's sole endorsement from South Carolina's congressional delegation is from Rep. Ralph Norman.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., defended the recent removal of language related to diversity, equity and inclusion on his presidential campaign website during a Bloomberg TV roundtable today.

The section of his website is now called "Equity and Restorative Justice." Phillips said that while he believes in the individual values of diversity, equity and inclusion, "those words together ... are now slogans that are being litigated and dividing up the country."

Pressed about whether the change was related to the $1 million donation billionaire hedge fund investor Bill Ackman, a prominent critic of DEI initiatives, made to a political action committee supporting his bid, Phillips replied, "Nobody buys me."

When Congress began the new year, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., made a startling confession in a television interview: House Republicans have done nothing they can run on.

“We have nothing. In my opinion, we have nothing to go out there and campaign on,” Biggs said on the conservative network Newsmax. “It’s embarrassing.”

Anchor Chris Salcedo responded with a bemused chuckle. “I know,” he said. “The Republican Party in the Congress majority has zero accomplishments.”

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Haley is looking to temper expectations heading into tomorrow's New Hampshire primary, saying she only wants to be "stronger" than she was in Iowa, where she finished third.

“Our goal is to be stronger than we were in Iowa and then keep going to my sweet state of South Carolina,” she told NBC News.

“Let’s keep in mind, we don’t do coronations in this country,” Haley added. “Because 70% of Americans don’t want a Trump-Biden rematch.”

In separate posts on X, the GOP’s House and Senate campaign chairs both said Trump is their “presumptive nominee” for president and called on the party to embrace him.

NRCC Chair Richard Hudson:

NRSC Chair Steve Daines:

EXETER, N.H. — Attendees at Haley's boisterous rally here yesterday included members of both parties and independent voters, and many of them noted one big draw to Haley — her relative youth.

“We need somebody different. Younger, with fresh ideas. I think a woman could maybe do that,” Diane Pineo, 66, a registered Republican, told NBC News.

Brad Copithorne, 59, is a volunteer for Haley’s campaign who traveled to New Hampshire from North Carolina. “I’m a big supporter," Copithorne said. "I think, you know, the age thing is very important.”

“Haley has so much energy," he added. "She’s doing six or seven events a day. … It’s just incredible.”

Another voter compared Haley to a young, energizing politician who came through the Granite State in 2008.

“I think she’s been inspirational to be honest with you,” Tony Rivera, 56, told NBC News, adding: “The last candidate that I had, that I saw that I was inspired like this was [former President Barack] Obama.”

ROCHESTER, N.H. — This small city of roughly 33,000 in southeastern New Hampshire is one of a handful of cities and towns that has mirrored the GOP statewide primary results going back to 1952.

And “the campaigns know that Rochester is a bellwether,” said Mayor Paul Callaghan, a Republican.

Trump held a rally here Sunday evening, while Haley also campaigned here in the final days of the race. And in many ways, the city illustrates how the GOP has changed in the last decade: Voters here twice supported former President Barack Obama before they flipped to support Trump in the 2016 and 2020 general elections.

Read the full story here.

Nikki Haley's campaign and the super PACs backing her bid spent a combined $6.8 million on campaign ads from Jan. 15 through Jan. 21, according to AdImpact, an ad tracking firm.

The spending far outpaces pro-Trump campaign advertisement spending nationally. In the same time frame, Trump's campaign and the super PACs backing him spent a combined $3.2 million.

In New Hampshire specifically, pro-Haley groups and her campaign spent a combined $5 million in the last week, while pro-Trump groups and his campaign spent just under $3 million.

NBC News’ Shaquille Brewster spoke to undeclared voters in New Hampshire as Nikki Haley hopes to get their support to beat former President Trump in the state’s Republican primary tomorrow.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — A day ahead of the New Hampshire primary, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani stopped by the Red Arrow Diner, where he served coffee to patrons and chatted with reporters.

From behind the counter, Giuliani argued that Trump’s mounting legal battles are all politically motivated.

“You’re indicting him not to try him for a crime. You’re making a mockery out of that. You’re indicting him so he doesn’t have the time to beat you,” Giuliani said.

He also cast Haley as hypocritical and indecisive.

“You don’t need a person who when they’re asked what was the cause of the civil war, has to go check with a pollster to find out what do the people want to hear?” Giuliani said, adding later, “I’ve been in politics long enough that I can pick out the phonies, she’s a phony.”

Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy announced his endorsement of Republican businessman Bernie Moreno for the GOP nomination in the Ohio Senate race for Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown’s seat.

“I’m proud to announce my endorsement of Bernie Moreno for the US Senate in my home state of Ohio. I’m endorsing Bernie because he’s an outsider, he’s a businessman, and you all know I have a bias towards that being one of them myself,” Ramaswamy said in a video posted on X, referring to his own experience as a biotech entrepreneur. “I think we need more businessmen in Washington, D.C., to actually drive change.”

Moreno has scored endorsements from Trump and some of his allies, such as Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, ahead of the March 19 primary. Moreno, a former Cleveland-area car dealer and blockchain entrepreneur, will face off against Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan for the Republican nomination to challenge Brown.

Ramaswamy’s endorsement of Moreno comes after he voiced his support for Trump after finishing fourth in the Iowa caucuses last week.

The largest newspaper in New Hampshire has endorsed Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., in the Democratic primary, calling him "a reasonable alternative".

On the Republican side, Haley received the newspaper's endorsement yesterday. The New Hampshire Union Leader, a historically conservative paper, endorsed Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., in the 2020 Democratic primary.

Biden is not on the ballot in New Hampshire, and the winner of the Democratic primary is not expected to receive any delegates.

FRANKLIN, N.H. — Haley pushed back against calls for her to drop out as the GOP race narrows to a one-on-one contest between her and Trump.

"America doesn’t do coronations. We believe in choices," Haley said at a campaign stop here this morning. "We believe in democracy and we believe in freedom.

She also pushed back against Trump's attacks against her on Social Security, the border wall and conflicts abroad.

"Every single thing that Donald Trump has said or put on TV has been a lie," Haley said.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a former Republican presidential candidate, announced that he will not seek re-election this year. Burgum, a former software entrepreneur, was first elected in 2016.

He endorsed Trump at a rally on the eve of the Iowa caucuses. Trump said that he hoped Burgum could play a "very important" role in a potential future administration.

Two new polls released today show Trump is maintaining a double-digit lead over Haley in the New Hampshire primary.

The latest Suffolk University/NBC-10/Boston Globe tracking poll found Trump at 57% and Haley at 38% among likely GOP primary voters without DeSantis in the race.

And a Washington Post/Monmouth University poll put Trump at 52% and Haley at 34% among potential Republican primary voters. The survey, which was conducted before DeSantis dropped out, had the Florida governor at 8%. DeSantis supporters were twice as likely to name Trump than Haley as their second choice, according to Monmouth's release.

Rep. Nancy Mace is endorsing Trump, marking yet another South Carolina Republican who is backing the former president over Haley, the state's former governor.

A source familiar said Mace texted Haley before the news of the endorsement broke.

Haley campaigned with Mace when she faced a Trump-backed Republican primary challenger in 2022.

Mace, who once worked for Trump's 2016 campaign, was critical of him after the 2020 election, but ultimately fell back in line with the former president.

Haley's lone congressional backer is Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C.

Trump was on hand for the damages trial in writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit against him today, but the trial was postponed over Covid concerns involving his attorneys.

Trump lawyer Alina Habba told the judge she’d had a fever after being with relatives three days ago who later tested positive for Covid, and that her co-counsel Michael Madaio had been exposed, as well. Both tested negative for Covid in court this morning. Both were on either side of their 77-year-old former president without any masks on as they addressed U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan.

Kaplan said a juror in the case had headed home to test after feeling ill on the way in to court. He granted Habba’s request for a one-day postponement.

Read the full story here.

Biden will convene key members of his Cabinet today to discuss abortion rights on the 51st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling, according to a White House official.

The president will “hear directly from physicians on the frontlines of the fallout” since the landmark decision was reversed and detail new actions his administration is taking to strengthen access to contraception and medication abortion, as well as ensuring patients can receive emergency medical care. 

The meeting will mark the fourth time his task force on reproductive health care access has come together since the fall of Roe roughly a year and a half ago. 

Read the full story here.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — A prominent New Hampshire Democrat plans to file a complaint with the state attorney general over an apparent robocall that appears to encourage Biden supporters not to vote in tomorrow’s presidential primary.

The voice in the message is familiar — even presidential — as it’s an apparent imitation or digital manipulation of Biden’s voice.

Read the full story here.

Democratic leaders are marking the 51st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision with almost a dozen events in key swing states.

“These events come as Trump has endorsed a federal ban, promised ‘to be leading the charge’ in getting one passed, and has consistently said he’s proud to have overturned Roe,” said Josh Marcus-Blank, the Biden campaign's communications director for battleground states. “Our campaign is not going to let him avoid his record of attacking women’s freedoms.”

Many of the events are in crucial swing states, including the five states Biden flipped in 2020: Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona.

Biden, Harris and their spouses are also holding a campaign rally in Virginia tomorrow to mark the anniversary of the Roe decision, which the Supreme Court overturned in 2022.

The damages trial in writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit against Trump resumes today, with the former president expected to attend — and possibly testify.

Carroll, who sued Trump for defaming her when he was president by calling her sexual abuse allegations against him “pure fiction” and a “hoax,” is expected to wrap up her case by this afternoon, paving the way for Trump’s defense case to start. He is listed as one of only two defense witnesses and has said he plans to testify.

If he does, it would lead to the unprecedented sight of a former president and the current leading Republican presidential candidate taking the witness stand the day before a crucial primary in New Hampshire. Similar scenes are expected to play out in the coming year, with Trump facing the prospect of up to four criminal trials and other court hearings as he vies to return to the White House.

Read the full story here.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Yesterday morning, DeSantis summoned several of his closest advisers to the Governor’s Mansion in Tallahassee for a final conversation about his presidential campaign’s future, according to a person familiar with the discussion.

Then, DeSantis and his wife, Casey, left the advisers to have a private conversation in the upstairs residence. They decided he would pull the plug on a campaign that had no reasonable path forward. By the time they returned to the advisers, DeSantis had written down lines that would form part of the announcement that he was suspending the campaign.

The discussions at the Governor’s Mansion were the culmination of almost a week of conversations between DeSantis and his advisers that began last Monday night, shortly after he placed a distant second to Trump in the Iowa caucuses.

Read the full story here.

The day before the New Hampshire primary, Haley is making five stops in the state, while Trump is holding an evening rally. Donald Trump Jr. is also hosting an event on his father's behalf this afternoon.

The former president could also testify in the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial in New York.

Biden's long-shot Democratic challengers, Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., and author Marianne Williamson, are campaigning in New Hampshire ahead of the state's unsanctioned Democratic primary. The campaign to write in Biden's name on the ballot tomorrow has surrogate events scheduled throughout the day.

Meanwhile, Harris has her eye on the general election, as she heads to Wisconsin to discuss abortion rights on the anniversary of the original Roe v. Wade ruling.