New Hampshire primary: Sanders narrowly seizes victory from Buttigieg as Klobachur surges to third

‘We are taking on billionaires and we’re taking on candidates funded by billionaires’, Sanders said as primaries winnowed a once overflowing field

Just months after a heart attack seemed to signal an all but certain end to his presidential aspirations, Bernie Sanders has established himself as the narrow-but-clear frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination with a slim primary win in the New Hampshire primaries.

It's a win that comes four years after Granite State voters took it upon themselves to buck the Democratic Party establishment’s choice of candidate in his favour, launching an improbable political arc his supporters now see as a political movement with its best chance at reaching maturity.

Unlike that 2016 win, though, Tuesday’s win over second place Pete Buttigieg in New Hampshire marks a leader ascendant, instead of a surprising and novel political force. And perhaps above all, the results signal the start of what will undoubtedly be a fierce battle between the democratic socialist and that same entrenched party establishment, and its fundraising tradition he has not been shy to criticise.

“This is a movement from coast to coast that is demanding that we have an economy and a government that works for all of us,” Mr Sanders during a victory speech in Manchester.

“We are taking on billionaires and we’re taking on candidates funded by billionaires,” he continued, in a veiled shot at Mr Buttigieg, who has hit criticism in this race for his courting of high dollar donors, including a fundraiser in a California wine cave.

Mr Buttigieg, speaking from Nashua just before the Vermont senator took the stage across the state, revelled in his second strong performance, and promised to keep moving forward.

“Here in a state that goes by the motto, ‘Live Free or Die,’ you made up your own minds,” Mr Buttigieg said to applause. “You asserted that famous independent streak. And thanks to you, a campaign that some said shouldn’t be here at all has shown that we are here to stay.”

In the Southern New Hampshire University gym where Mr Sanders held his election night party, a silent feed of CNN’s election coverage played above press risers throughout the night leading up to his victory speech.

The vibe was decidedly anti-Buttigieg, and expressed a raw desire for massive change to America’s economic and political status quo.

As results poured in showing Mr Sanders in top of the field, those supporters periodically erupted in cheers and chants of “Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!” with each major development in the numbers — and the enthusiasm continued even as it became clear that the results would not give Sanders the kind of blowout victory he had against Hillary Clinton in 2016.

When Mr Buttigieg took the stage just a half hours drive south in Nashua, the crowd booed the former mayor of South Bend, before starting a “Bernie beats Trump” chant as the 38-year-old beamed on screen.

“Wall Street Pete!” they continued to chant during that speech.

Amy Klobuchar, who has been running a campaign that flew largely under the radar of the national media, suddenly found her stock rising with her third place win. At her Nashua election night party, she celebrated the showing, and her newfound status as this year’s New Hampshire surprise.

“Hello, America. I’m Amy Klobuchar and I will beat Donald Trump,” she said. “My heart is full tonight. While there are still ballots left to count, we have beaten the odds every step of the way.”

The results in New Hampshire almost instantly narrowed the once burgeoning field of presidential candidates, with Andrew Yang and Michael Bennet reading the tea leaves early and suspending their campaigns long before Sanders went on stage to declare victory.

“I am the math guy and it is clear to me from these numbers we are not going to win this race,” Mr Yang told supporters.

But two prominent candidates who drew disappointing results on Tuesday in New Hampshire, Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden, remained defiant, and pledged to soldier on into what could become a protracted and ugly fight that extends into convention this summer.

In a speech to supporters at a tennis hall just across the road from the Manchester airport, Warren thanked her dog Bailey for his support and praised Ms Klobuchar’s third place showing, warning the world to never underestimate a woman with determination.

“I also want to congratulate my friend Amy Klobuchar for showing just how wrong the pundits can be when they count a woman out,” Ms Warren said.

Then, she expressed her own determination to stay in the fight after less than stellar results in Iowa and now New Hampshire.

“I also want us to be honest with ourselves as Democrats: we might be headed for another one of those long primary fights that lasts for months, she said before warning of the dangers of factionalism that may result from the attacks that have sprouted up among Democrats this past week.

“We’re two states in, with 55 states and territories to go. We still have 98 per cent of the delegates for our nomination up for grabs, and Americans in every part of our country are going to make their voices heard.”

Joe Biden, who has left the state before polls even closed, addressed his supporters from South Carolina, where he is banking on strong African American support to breathe life into his cratering campaign.

“I do love New Hampshire, I really mean it,” he told his supporters via telecom during an address in which he appeared at one point confused, mixing up the names of Nevada and New Hampshire.

“It ain’t over, man, we’re just getting started,” he said.

But Democratic voters were not the only ones to cast votes on Tuesday. Donald Trump— who voters in the state almost universally said was their top issue, meaning they want him out above all else — was also on the ballot, which he won again with very little resistance.

And, apparently watching results come in alongside everyone else, the president lashed out, showing just the kinds of attacks in store for Democrats I’m the general election.

“A lot of Democrat dropouts tonight, very low political IQ,” he wrote in one tweet among many that included an attack on Mr Sanders over how close Mr Buttigieg had come to winning — “very interesting!” — and one on Ms Warren that used a racially charged attack as he slammed her poor performance.

Mr Sanders was looking ahead too.

“Let me say tonight that this victory here is the beginning of the end of Donald Trump,” he said, looking out over a sea of white placards with his name on them and some 20 cameras fixed on him in the back of the room.