Washington — Former President Donald Trump claimed the last undecided delegate from New Hampshire, giving him a 13-9 delegate edge against Nikki Haley.
The Associated Press assigned the last delegate based on the Jan. 23 primary vote results under the state's peculiar Republican delegate procedures.
Republican presidential primaries include state-by-state delegate distribution rules, unlike Democrats. Statewide primary results choose 22 Republican delegates in New Hampshire. A candidate with 50% of the primary vote wins 50% of the delegates, or 11. Candidates must also get 10% of the primary vote to qualify for delegates.
In New Hampshire, only Trump (54%), and Haley (43%), won more than 10% of the primary vote. Delegate arithmetic in most states involves multiplying these percentages (including decimals) by the number of delegates at stake
In New Hampshire, the first stage in assigning Republican delegates is to round vote percentages to the closest whole percentage, which is 54% for Trump and 43% for Haley. Multiple these percentages by the 22 Republican delegates at stake in New Hampshire.
This yields 11.88 delegates for Trump, which rounds to 12, and 9.46 for Haley, which rounds to 9.
This represents 21 of 22 state delegates. Trump wins unallocated delegates in New Hampshire because he received the most votes. Some call this a “winner’s bonus.” These rules give Trump 13 delegates and Haley 9 in New Hampshire.
A contender must obtain 1,215 delegate votes at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this summer to secure the Republican presidential nomination. After Iowa and New Hampshire, Trump leads Haley 33-17 in delegates.
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