WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump has won the last remaining unresolved delegate from New Hampshire, giving him a 13-9 delegate advantage in the Granite State over former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
The Associated Press allocated the final delegate based on the latest vote results from the Jan. 23 primary in accordance with the state’s unusual rules regarding the allocation of Republican delegates.
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Unlike in the Democratic presidential primaries, where all states follow a mostly uniform delegate allocation procedure, Republican delegate rules vary state by state. In New Hampshire, 22 Republican delegates are awarded to candidates in proportion to statewide primary results. For example, a candidate who receives 50% of the primary vote will receive 50% of the delegates at stake, or in this case, 11 delegates. The rules also state that a candidate must receive at least 10% of the primary vote in order to qualify for any delegates.
Only two candidates received more than 10% of the primary vote in New Hampshire – Trump, who received a little more than 54%, and Haley, who received a little more than 43%. In most states, the delegate math would involve multiplying these percentages – including the decimals – by the total number of delegates at stake. However, in New Hampshire, the first step in allocating Republican delegates is to round the vote percentages to the nearest whole percentage, which would be 54% for Trump and 43% for Haley. These whole percentages are then multiplied by the total number of Republican delegates at stake, which in New Hampshire is 22.
This produces an initial result of 11.88 delegates for Trump, which rounds to 12, and 9.46 delegates for Haley, which rounds to 9.
This accounts for 21 of the state’s 22 delegates. In New Hampshire, any unallocated delegates are awarded to the top vote-getter, which in this case is Trump. This is sometimes referred to as a “winner’s bonus.”
Based on these rules, the final delegate allocation in New Hampshire is 13 for Trump and 9 for Haley.
In order to clinch the Republican presidential nomination, a candidate must win a majority of delegate votes – 1,215 – at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this summer. After Iowa and New Hampshire, Trump leads Haley in the overall delegate count, 33-17.