One-time rivals who now support the former president hit the campaign trail in the Granite State ahead of the first-in-nation primary election.
LACONIA, N.H.–As voters prepare for the nation’s first primary election of 2024, two former presidential hopefuls have joined former President Donald Trump in his call for Republicans to unite behind him to defeat Democrat President Joe Biden.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and North Dakota’s governor Doug Burgum underscored the importance of that mission in separate interviews with The Epoch Times on Monday, just hours before voters would start casting ballots here.
The Granite State’s first-in-nation primary follows President Trump’s decisive Jan. 15 win in the Iowa Caucuses.
Mr. Scott, Mr. Burgum, and U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) all expressed confidence that today’s primary will seal the deal for President Trump to become the GOP’s presidential nominee.
“This race is over. I’m telling you, this thing’s over,” Mr. Donalds told The Epoch Times on Monday. “I mean, obviously, we have to get the job done tomorrow [Tuesday, Jan. 23]. I think we will. As long as that holds, we’re pretty much done.”
President Trump is in the thick of his third campaign for the presidency. He won in 2016, but then-candidate Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 election, a result many people dispute to this day.
Messrs. Scott, Burgum, and Donalds were among the speakers who took the stage at the Margate Resort here before President Trump addressed an overflow crowd. Due to fire officials limiting the capacity to 655 attendees, some people were turned away after waiting for hours in the cold.
“These are very engaged citizens,” Mr. Burgum said. “They’re very committed, they care deeply. I mean, these are the people that are waiting six hours in line, you know, next to snowbanks and snowdrifts, to get a chance to come into this venue to see the president here tonight.”
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The energy of President Trump’s supporters propelled him to a landslide in Iowa, Mr. Burgum said, and he thinks it will produce another historic win in New Hampshire.
By Janice Hisle
