What you need to know

After Donald Trump’s record victory in the Iowa caucuses, New Hampshire voters now get their turn to decide just how competitive the Republican nominating fight will be as the former president continues to dominate his party.

Trump has been eager this week to flaunt his 30-point victory in Iowa, stepping up the pressure on former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to improve on their distant finishes in the opening votes of the 2024 presidential election.

Here’s what you need to know about the New Hampshire primary:

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When is the New Hampshire primary?

New Hampshire is the longtime host of the nation’s first presidential primary, which will take place next Tuesday, Jan. 23.

A marker stands outside the Statehouse in Concord, N.H., Nov. 15, 2023, describing the history of the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary. (AP Photo/Holly Ramer, File)

A tiny community near the Canadian border will kick off the state’s voting as the clock strikes midnight. Dixville Notch has been in the spotlight since 1960, when the owner of the Balsams resort, Neil Tillotson, arranged for residents to vote at midnight, with the polls closing and results announced within minutes. The resort closed in 2011, but voting has continued in various locations. This year, voting will take place in Tillotson’s former home, in a living room decorated with photos and memorabilia from previous primary voters.

How is New Hampshire different from Iowa?

First, it’s a primary, not a caucus.

For the Republican presidential candidates, New Hampshire’s electorate is less religiously conservative and less rural than in Iowa, factors that helped Trump in Iowa’s GOP caucuses. If DeSantis and Haley cannot capitalize on those differences, they could watch Trump sustain momentum that would render the rest of the Republican primary calendar little more than a formality.

Haley, who has sought to build a wide coalition that includes independents, has put great emphasis on New Hampshire, hoping it becomes a springboard to her home-state South Carolina primary next month. DeSantis, who has run more as a Trumpian conservative, put more stock in Iowa, so now must regroup quickly for New Hampshire or risk squandering his second-place finish.

What will the weather be like?

Severe winter weather already is altering campaign schedules and making candidates’ tasks harder. DeSantis had to cancel a Tuesday event because of difficult travel conditions.

New Hampshire Prepares To Host 2024 Primary Presidential Primary — A man clears snow from a sidewalk on January 17, 2024 in North Conway, New Hampshire. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

What do the polls say?

Trump has had good reason to dedicate his time to New Hampshire despite his dominance in national polls, which have shown him with an about 50 point lead on his fellow conservatives for much of the year-long run up to the first primary. That lead dwindles to just single digits in the Granite State, with Haley close at his heels.

Why were the New Hampshire Republican debates canceled?

Two Republican presidential debates were canceled after Haley’s refusal to participate in any forum that doesn’t also include Trump, which means for the first time in years there will not be an on-the-ground faceoff ahead of New Hampshire’s primary.

Republican Presidential Candidate Nikki Haleys Campaigns In Hollis, New Hampshire — Republican presidential candidate, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, speaks during a campaign event held at the Alpine Grove Event Center on January 18, 2024, in Hollis, New Hampshire. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

CNN announced Wednesday that it was calling off its debate, which had been scheduled for Sunday at New England College. That came a day after ABC and WMUR-TV said they were also canceling Thursday’s debate, planned at Saint Anselm College, following Haley’s assertion that the next debate in which she participates “will either be with Donald Trump or Joe Biden.”

CNN said Wednesday that it would instead host a town hall with Haley on Thursday from New England College.

What is the controversy surrounding the Democratic ballot?

For starters, the Democratic National Committee, which has the ultimate say in how its presidential nominee will be picked, says state party officials violated national party rules by scheduling its contest earlier than allowed. As a result, the primary will have zero delegates at stake on Tuesday. Normally, the contest would have determined how the state’s original allotment of 23 pledged delegates to the presidential nominating convention in Chicago this summer would be allocated to the various candidates.

US-POLITICS-VOTE-PHILLIPS — Democratic presidential hopeful US Representative Dean Phillips speaks during a campaign event at Post & Beam Brewing in Peterborough, New Hampshire, on January 17, 2024. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP via Getty Images)

Furthermore, President Joe Biden, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for a second term, decided to skip New Hampshire since their primary violates party rules and will not appear on the ballot. It was Biden’s idea to bump the state from its prized primary calendar slot in favor of South Carolina, which resuscitated his struggling campaign in 2020. That year, Biden placed fourth in the Iowa caucuses and fifth in New Hampshire with only 8% of the vote.

The New Hampshire Democratic Party is nevertheless proceeding with the primary — which they note state law requires to be held before any other primary – and has already started the process of selecting people to serve as national convention delegates. This earned a sharp rebuke from the DNC, which called the upcoming primary both “meaningless” and “detrimental.”

US-POLITICS-VOTE-WILLIAMSON — Democratic presidential hopeful Marianne Williamson speaks during a campaign event at Teatotaller’s Cafe in Concord, New Hampshire, on January 17, 2024. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP via Getty Images)

In response, state Democratic party chairman Ray Buckley said in a statement, “Well, it’s safe to say in New Hampshire, the DNC is less popular than the NY Yankees. State law requires the New Hampshire Secretary of State to conduct the first-in-the-nation primary and he is going to follow the law — period. Nothing has changed, and we look forward to seeing a great Democratic voter turnout on January 23rd.”

Will Biden appear on the New Hampshire ballot?

Biden’s name will not appear as a printed option on the ballot. However, some New Hampshire Democrats have mounted an effort to encourage primary voters to cast their ballots for Biden as a write-in candidate. Write-in candidates are eligible to win elections in New Hampshire.

Contributing: Associated Press; Matthew Medsger, Boston Herald

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