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Sen. Bernie Sanders has won the New Hampshire primary, according to projections from Decision Desk HQ.
Votes are still being counted, but it looks like Sanders and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg will come out of the night with equal numbers of delegates. Preliminary estimates from Decision Desk HQ show that Sanders and Buttigieg will both get 9 delegates; Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar is estimated to get 6.
Sanders has a long way to go before securing the nomination. But he’s off to a strong start, getting more votes than Buttigieg in last week’s chaotic Iowa caucuses and now winning the New Hampshire primary. Buttigieg won Iowa by getting more delegates than Sanders, and he seems likely to maintain that lead in the delegate count after Tuesday night.
Here are more detailed live results from Decision Desk HQ:
If history tells us anything, there’s a lot more on the line than delegates. New Hampshire bestows momentum; winning here increases a candidate’s expected share of the primary vote by 27 percentage points, political scientist William Mayer wrote in 2004.
With Sen. Bernie Sanders and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg the apparent winners of the Iowa caucuses (Sanders won the popular vote while Buttigieg won the most state delegate equivalents), New Hampshire was a make-or-break moment for both candidates — as well as for Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden.
New Hampshire voters are very engaged; the primary had the highest turnout percentage of any state in both 2008 and 2016. And independent voters — also known as undeclared voters — make up 42 percent of the electorate. Political experts were watching whether those voters back a more moderate candidate, or if Sanders, who won independents handily in 2016, retained his hold on the group.
