Danielle Brown voted for John McCain in the 2000 New Hampshire Republican primary and for Barack Obama in the Democratic primary eight years later. On Tuesday, she intends to back former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to send a clear message to both parties.
“We need to have some new ideas and a new, younger generation coming in,” Brown, an undeclared voter, said as she clutched a Haley 2024 yard sign freshly autographed by the candidate. “Haley is energized. I think she can do a lot for our country.”
Brown is a voter stuck in the middle, one of thousands of undeclared and independent residents who make up a plurality of the Granite State’s electorate and a critical part of Haley’s coalition. Her chances in New Hampshire – and by extension, the fate of her campaign – likely hinge on how many independents vote for her in the state’s primary Tuesday.
As of Friday, 344,335 voters in New Hampshire were registered as undeclared, which comprises nearly 40% of the electorate.
Haley’s campaign is targeting Republicans and undeclared voters from the suburbs to the seacoast, advisers said, particularly in precincts where Trump underperformed other Republicans, such as Gov. Chris Sununu. Though Trump won the 2016 New Hampshire GOP primary, he lost the state in the general election in both 2016 and 2020.
A win in New Hampshire could offer Haley’s campaign the momentum, and donor money, necessary to compete in South Carolina on February 24 and the Super Tuesday states voting on March 5.
A loss, however, might hasten the speed at which the Republican Party coalesces around Trump.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who ended his own presidential bid in November, became the latest former candidate to endorse Trump at a rally in Concord on Friday. Haley dismissed the endorsement, saying in a statement that Trump was lining up…
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