NEW HAMPSHERE – Billionaire
businessman Donald Trump won New Hampshire’s Republican presidential nominating
contest on Tuesday, while U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont won the
Democratic primary over Hillary Clinton, U.S. television networks said after
early results.

Trump’s win solidifies his
front-runner status in the race to be the party’s White House nominee for the
Nov. 8 election.

The reality television star’s
untraditional campaign has been marked by calls to deport illegal immigrants
and temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States.

Sanders, who describes himself as a
democratic socialist, had 56 percent of the vote in early returns, ahead of
former Secretary of State Clinton, the perceived front-runner nationally, who
had 42 percent, according to CNN.

In a statement Clinton’s campaign
acknowledged it had lost in New Hampshire. Campaign manager Robby Mook said in
a memo they had “split” the first two nominating contests – Iowa was
last week – and said the Democratic nomination would “very likely” be
decided in March.

The Clinton campaign said the support
of black and Hispanic voters would be key to victory. The next primary races
are in Nevada and South Carolina later this month.

“It will be very difficult, if
not impossible, for a Democrat to win the nomination without strong levels of
support among African-American and Hispanic voters,” Mook wrote in a memo
titled “March Matters.”

“The nomination will very likely
be won in March, not February, and we believe that Hillary Clinton is well
positioned to build a strong – potentially insurmountable – delegate lead next
month,” he said.

Some 25 minutes after polls closed at
8 pm EST, Trump was in first place with 34 percent of the early vote. Ohio
Governor John Kasich, who staked the viability of his campaign on the New
Hampshire outcome, was in second place with 16 percent, CNN said.

A logjam of Republican candidates were in a dead heat for
third place. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the son and brother of former
presidents, had 12 percent; U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who won the Iowa
caucus last week, had 11 percent, and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida had
10 percent.