Radio Recap – Takeaways from the New Hampshire Primary

By 

Jay Sekulow

|
February 13, 2020

3 min read

Public Policy

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Yesterday was the Presidential Primary in New Hampshire.

On today’s Jay Sekulow Live we discussed the New Hampshire Presidential Primary results and what it means for the election.

The results are in and some were a bit surprising in some instances. This is not being widely reported, but President Trump received 129,509 votes (with 99% reporting) in the Republican Primary. Just so you know, that is the highest ever achieved by an incumbent that has been recorded, ever.

On the Democrat side, I think the biggest takeaway is how close that race is between Senator Sanders and Mayor Buttigieg.

ACLJ Director of Government Affairs Thann Bennett made the following point:

I think Senator Klobuchar made the biggest move up. Mayor Buttigieg made probably the next biggest. I have to say, if I could be one candidate right now, I’d want to be the one that won the most votes in the first two states and also holds a national lead in the polls. That’s Senator Sanders. I think he’s the clear favorite, right now. He’s consolidated the socialist vote from Senator Warren, and she’s on her way out.

Mayor Pete has the most delegates right now, one more pledged delegate than Senator Sanders, even though the Senator has won the most votes in the two states.

Look, Mayor Pete, Senator Klobuchar, and Mayor Bloomberg are now competing for that Biden vote. The former Vice-President and Senator Warren are both in big trouble.

Interestingly, Mayor Bloomberg has rested his entire campaign on Super Tuesday, the whole campaign.

ACLJ Director of Policy Harry Hutchison touched on Mayor Bloomberg’s strategy:

I think he has the economic resources to do that. He’s taking a big gamble, but the size of the gamble has lessened substantially because he’s prepared to spend, I’m told, up to two billion dollars of his own money. He’s reportedly worth sixty-one billion dollars. He can stay in this campaign as long as he wants because he’s essentially self-funded. He’s doesn’t depend on donors and apparently the Democrat leadership is prepared to change the rules, for purposes of the debates, so that he can actually appear on stage.

If I were advising Mayor Bloomberg, I would turn down the offer to appear on stage because I think he’s much more effective in his televised appearances, and his advertisements than he would be live, but that’s just my guess.

Former Vice-President Joe Biden attempted to spin his fifth place finish in New Hampshire:

You just heard from the first 2 of the 50 states. 2 of them. Not all the nation. Now where I come from, that’s the opening bell, not the closing bell.

You can listen to the entire episode with further analysis here.