PBS NewsHour New Hampshire Primary Special

JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening, and welcome to this "PBS NewsHour" Vote 2020 election special.

I'm Judy Woodruff in Manchester, New Hampshire.

The Democratic race for president is being dramatically reshaped in this New England state tonight.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is leading in the first-in-the-nation primary, but by a smaller margin than many expected.

Just barely a couple points separate him from former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, with Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar close behind.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden are well back in single digits.

And two candidates have already announced they are dropping out.

Just moments ago, we heard from Mayor Pete Buttigieg speaking to his supporters in Nashua.

PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), Presidential Candidate: And here in a state that goes by the motto leave free or die, you made up your own minds.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) PETE BUTTIGIEG: You asserted that famous independent streak.

And thanks to you, a campaign that some said shouldn't be here at all has shown that we are here to stay.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) PETE BUTTIGIEG: So many of on you turned out, die-hard Democrats, independents unwilling to stay on the sidelines, and even some newly former Republicans ready to vote for something new.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) JUDY WOODRUFF: A good night for Pete Buttigieg.

Meantime, Senator Amy Klobuchar was also surging here in New Hampshire after a strong debate performance last Friday.

Here's what she had to say to her supporters tonight.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), Presidential Candidate: Hello, America.

I'm Amy Klobuchar, and I will beat Donald Trump.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: My heart -- my heart is full tonight.

My heart is full tonight.

While there are still ballots left to count, we have beaten the odds every step of the way.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) JUDY WOODRUFF: We are just learning, after listening to some of Senator Klobuchar, that two television networks, ABC and NBC, are projecting Bernie Sanders will win the state of New Hampshire.

But, as we have been reporting, it is a very close race, with Mayor Pete Buttigieg very close behind Senator Sanders.

Meantime, Vice President Joe Biden a disappointing showing in the Granite State.

Earlier tonight, he flew to South Carolina, where the primary race is two and-a-half weeks away.

JOSEPH BIDEN (D), Presidential Candidate: We need to hear from Nevada and South Carolina and Super Tuesday states and beyond.

And, look, we're moving in an especially important phase, because up until now, we haven't heard from the most committed constituency of the Democratic Party, the African-American community.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) JOSEPH BIDEN: And the fastest growing segment of society, the Latino community.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) JOSEPH BIDEN: So, when you hear all these pundits and experts, cable TV talkers, talking about the race, tell them, it ain't over, man.

We're just getting started.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Vice President, former Vice President Biden anxious to move on from New Hampshire.

So, I'm joined tonight by Amna Nawaz watching it all in our Washington, D.C. studio.

Hello, Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: Hi, Judy.

Let's take a closer look now at the state of the race in New Hampshire.

Want to take a look at some of the top three candidates and where they are polling so far.

Rather, here is the top seven field right now.

We mentioned Senator Sanders, of course, in the lead, but a very close race there between Senator Sanders and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg there, just a couple of percentage points separating them right now, and that is with over three-quarters of the vote now in, Senator Amy Klobuchar behind in third place with over 19 percent of that vote, followed, of course, by Senator Warren with just over 9 percent, former Vice President Joe Biden with over 8 percent, Tom Steyer with over 3.5 percent, and Tulsi Gabbard there with just over 3 percent.

When you take a closer look now at the top three candidates -- I think we have those numbers as well to take a look at -- and you see those numbers, and they are being updated in real time.

And we have got those one, two and three.

Those will be updated in real time.

We will keep coming back to that.

We should also mention, however, we can declare a winner in the New Hampshire primary on the Republican side.

That, of course, is President Donald Trump.

You have got there over three-quarters of the vote in, and nearly 85 percent, nearly 86 of that vote going to President Donald Trump.

So, we can declare that winner.

We're still waiting, of course, to make the call on the Democratic side, as we mentioned, a very, very close race there, with just about a quarter of the vote still yet to come in between Senator Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg.

And Elizabeth Warren from neighboring Massachusetts had this to say tonight to her supporters in New Hampshire: SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), Presidential Candidate: So, the results are still coming in from across the state, but, right now, it is clear that Senator Sanders and Mayor Buttigieg had strong nights.

And I also want to congratulate my friend and colleague Amy Klobuchar for showing just how wrong the pundits can be when they count a woman out.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN: But since we are here tonight among family and friends, I also want us to be honest with ourselves as Democrats.

We might be headed for another one of those long primary fights that last for months.

AMNA NAWAZ: Tonight, we also learned, of course, two candidates have left the race, as we reported earlier, entrepreneur Andrew Yang and Colorado Senator Michael Bennet.

And former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has told supporters he's going home to reflect on his campaign.

Now, both Yang and Bennet spoke to their followers shortly after the polls closed in New Hampshire.

Let's take a quick listen now to what they had to say, starting with Mr. Yang.

ANDREW YANG (D), Presidential Candidate: We highlighted the real problems in our communities, as our economy is being transformed before our eyes by technology and automation.

And Americans know now that, when you go to a factory in Michigan, you do not find wall-to-wall immigrants doing work.

You find wall-to-wall robot arms and machines doing the work that people used to do.

I am not someone who wants to accept donations and support in a race that we will not win.

And so, tonight, I am announcing I am suspending my campaign for president.

MAN: We love you, Andrew!

ANDREW YANG: I love you, too.

Thank you, New Hampshire.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-CO), Presidential Candidate: I feel nothing but joy tonight, as we -- as we conclude this particular campaign and this particular chapter.

I am going to do absolutely everything I can do, as one human being, to make sure that Donald Trump is a one-term president.

AMNA NAWAZ: And we're going to go live now to New Hampshire, where Senator Bernie Sanders is speaking to his supporters right now.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), Presidential Candidate: And... (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: And the -- let me thank the thousands of volunteers in New Hampshire.

Thank you.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Who knocked on the doors in the rain and the snow and the cold.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Threat e reason that we won tonight in New Hampshire, we won last week in Iowa... (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: ... is because of the hard work of so many volunteers.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: And let me say tonight that this victory here is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) AMNA NAWAZ: Senator Sanders there using that V word, Judy, claiming victory there in New Hampshire -- back to you on the ground there.

JUDY WOODRUFF: That's right, Amna.

We hear him claiming victory, but we're still waiting for the results to come in.

About three-quarters or so of the vote is -- has been counted, is made public.

But we're still waiting.

And it's close.

It's about two points separating Bernie Sanders from Mayor Pete Buttigieg -- former Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

So, I'm here now with Lucas Meyer.

He's a strategist for a number of Democratic campaigns here in New Hampshire.

He's also president of the state's Young Democrats.

So, Lucas, we have a story on our hands.

(LAUGHTER) LUCAS MEYER, President, New Hampshire Young Democrats: Yes.

JUDY WOODRUFF: We have been talking about this.

What do you make of these results?

Bernie Sanders won New Hampshire four years ago by 22 points.

He's barely winning tonight.

LUCAS MEYER: Yes.

I mean, the -- politics is a weird business, right?

I mean, he performed incredibly well in 2016, and he came into this race with some really lofty expectations to carry that momentum into this race.

But he still won.

JUDY WOODRUFF: He still won.

LUCAS MEYER: It still looks like he's going to win.

There's going to be a lot of attention on Senator Klobuchar, who obviously performed very well tonight.

But Senator Sanders still won.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Yes.

LUCAS MEYER: And Mayor Buttigieg still, I think, exceeded expectations, but, at the end of the night, Senator Sanders still carries the state.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, do you have three winners?

I mean, you have Senator Sanders.

Yes, he's in front, even by a -- if it's by a small margin.

And we're -- again, we're waiting to see what the final margin is.

But then you have Pete Buttigieg, who... LUCAS MEYER: Yes.

JUDY WOODRUFF: ... small town, small city mayor.

And, finally, Amy Klobuchar, who we have been saying tonight, it was -- has been surging.

LUCAS MEYER: Right.

It'll entirely depend on who you ask, right, where you're going to have Senator Sanders, who won the state, carried a majority of the youth vote, but you will look at towns like Hanover, which has Dartmouth College, which Mayor Buttigieg carried.

You're going to see turnout declines at UNH.

While Senator Sanders still carries it, part of his core message is bringing new people into the fold and invigorating them.

So, depending on who you ask, you might get some different answers.

But, at the end of the day, he still carries the state.

He goes into the, -- in the next couple weeks with back-to-back wins in Iowa and New Hampshire.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Right.

LUCAS MEYER: So I think it's definitely a really exciting time if you're on team Sanders.

JUDY WOODRUFF: What does it say about Pete Buttigieg, though?

Again, here's somebody who did well in -- came out with the most delegates in Iowa, has gotten a lot of attention here in New Hampshire.

For him to do this well with the -- and we haven't even talked about it -- essentially, the collapse of Joe Biden here?

LUCAS MEYER: Right.

Right.

I think there will be a lot of analysis of how the moderate vote split down in the state.

But I think he has some real tests coming up down the road that are really going to put a lot of pressure on his campaign to see how they perform in these Southern states and as we head into Nevada.

So, I think it'll be really interesting to see how his campaign performs.

What kind of coalition can they build?

And I think anyone who's counting the vice president out tonight is doing it at their own risk.

I mean, you -- we saw that clip of him in South Carolina.

He looks comfortable.

He looks confident.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Right.

LUCAS MEYER: So, I still think this race is wide open.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Do you think -- we heard him say in South Carolina tonight that Iowa, New Hampshire, they're just two states out of 50, small population.

He's essentially dismissing these first two states.

Is that a fair way to look at what's going on?

LUCAS MEYER: I mean, I'm a Granite Stater.

I don't think it's totally fair.

(LAUGHTER) LUCAS MEYER: But I do think people need to think of this primary in a -- much longer terms.

Senator Warren, she has a campaign in 30 states.

Vice President Biden is going to be running for a while.

This is just the start.

And I think people need to take a step back, take a breath.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You're right.

LUCAS MEYER: This is very exciting for a number of these campaigns.

But there is a lot of votes to be cast.

There's a lot of work to be done.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You are absolutely right.

And the last thing I want to ask you about is Amy Klobuchar.

How do you explain the fact that she has ended up doing so well, coming as close as she is, in third place?

LUCAS MEYER: You know, there will be a lot of really smart pundits who are going to break that down in the coming weeks.

My take is that New Hampshire has a real penchant for electing women, between -- we have Senator Shaheen, Senator Hassan, both the first two women to serve in the Senate who also were governors of their state.

And she might have flown under the radar for a little bit.

And, as a lot of New Hampshire voters were undecided heading into the last week, heading into Iowa, the debate obviously played a really big -- a really big role, as some of the exit polling is starting to show.

So I think she was able to capitalize on a moment, which is the beautiful thing about the New Hampshire primary.

JUDY WOODRUFF: It is a -- it is a beautiful primary.

(LAUGHTER) LUCAS MEYER: Yes.

JUDY WOODRUFF: We say that every four years.

Lucas Meyer, thank you very much.

LUCAS MEYER: Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And back to Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: Thanks, Judy.

I want to go live now back to New Hampshire.

Our own Lisa Desjardins has been live there at a Bernie Sanders campaign event in Manchester.

And, Lisa, obviously, there's a celebration going on behind you there.

But you have been following this race.

You have been talking to voters on the ground.

When you look at Bernie Sanders' strong performance tonight, how did he do it?

Was it the get-out-the-vote after effort, the door-knocking?

Where was the difference made?

LISA DESJARDINS: Well, first of all, Amna, let me tell you a little bit about this scene.

This is an arena, sort of a gym, full of enthusiasm.

This is the night that Bernie Sanders' supporters did not get an Iowa, they have been waiting for since then.

Bernie Sanders declared victory just minutes after we reported that two networks had called the race for him.

His campaign had been reluctant for him to come out and speak, because they said the race was too close with Pete Buttigieg.

They changed their, minds came out.

Now you hear his crowd cheering for Bernie Sanders, chanting things like "Green New Deal, Green New Deal," singing along to Simon and Garfunkel.

This is a sheer celebration for his supporters.

How did they do it, Amna?

He already had a very strong base in this state.

He's a senator from Vermont.

He's known here.

He won here by more than 20 points in 2016.

And, Amna, this campaign knocked on over 100,000 doors.

Whether it annoyed people or not, it seems it got them out to the polls.

And by narrow margin, Bernie Sanders won the state, but one more reminder, Amna, that, as the results look now, he has won here, but it looks like the delegate hunt for the convention is a tie between him and Pete Buttigieg, or at least a virtual time.

This is a close race right now between one and two for the Democratic nomination.

But other states are ahead, where the dynamics could change.

AMNA NAWAZ: Lisa, you mentioned, of course, this is his backyard.

It's almost no surprise that he is doing really well here.

But I have got to ask you about Senator Warren as well.

It's also her backyard.

She is a known quantity to the voters there.

It doesn't look like it's going to be a good night from her.

What are you hearing from voters on the ground about what they felt about Elizabeth Warren?

LISA DESJARDINS: I heard multiple things, Amna.

There was some doubt about how committed she was to her health care platform.

I think, once people questioned exactly where she stood on health care back in November and December, that's when voters started to sort of change their mind about her in this state.

She's generally well liked here, but the fact that not only is she right now in fourth place, but it's a distant fourth place, to Amy Klobuchar means that there are very deep problems for her campaign that she has to address, and quickly.

The next two states, Nevada and South Carolina, she was hoping for momentum to get through there.

Who has that momentum instead?

A different female senator, Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota.

AMNA NAWAZ: That's our own Lisa Desjardins on the ground there in New Hampshire.

Here in our studio, I'm joined by Peter Hart.

He's a longtime Democratic pollster and founder of Hart Research Associates.

Thanks for being here.

PETER HART, Democratic Pollster: Delighted.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, tell me what you're looking at.

What is standing out to you, as you're paying attention to these results coming in tonight from New Hampshire?

PETER HART: A couple of different things.

First and foremost, Bernie Sanders did well, not only with his base, with the liberals and with the young people, but he reached across and did well with the moderates.

He got his share of the vote, and even with his own voters, he held his own.

So, I -- you look at Bernie, he's spreading his base.

And he looks at the field, and he starts to see, I'm the only one on the left.

Look at all these people who are coming into the middle.

Amy's coming in the middle.

Pete Buttigieg is coming in the middle.

And there's Mayor Bloomberg coming in.

And he's saying, I'm in a pretty good spot right now.

AMNA NAWAZ: When you talk about his base, we should mention, if we have some of these voter surveys breaking down the age, I would love to show those and get your take on them, because Senator Sanders has continued to do well with a strong portion of his base.

And that is young voters.

When you look at voters between the ages of 18 and 29, he has a clear lead there over the rest of the pack.

You move up to the next demographic, voters between 30-44, again, he is leading there, clearly ahead of the pack.

As voters start to get on there into the upper ages, 45 to 64, and even into 64-plus, you see two different candidates leading there, first Mayor Buttigieg, and then Amy Klobuchar.

That's clearly a strong part of his base he will rely on moving forward.

PETER HART: Absolutely.

And what's important here is, he's the oldest candidate, and he's doing the best with the youngest voters.

And that's a good sign.

And that's where he's always been.

The question is, we're now moving from retail politics into wholesale politics.

And, as I like to say, that Mayor Bloomberg is sort of the Amazon candidate.

AMNA NAWAZ: What do you mean by that?

PETER HART: Well, I mean, he's going to have all the money, all the placement.

He's going to be quicker.

He's going to be everywhere all at once.

And the question is, how will the voters relate to him?

And then you still have, what we would say, Klobuchar, and obviously Mayor Pete.

So it suddenly becomes that you have got the - - Senator Sanders out on his own, and probably in a pretty good position.

So, this has got a long ways to go.

But at least on chapter one, I would assume Sanders is a very happy person, and obviously Mayor Pete and Senator Klobuchar.

AMNA NAWAZ: You mentioned the ideological split there.

I'd love to show you a couple more graphics that we have, breaking out some of the voter surveys there.

PETER HART: Great.

AMNA NAWAZ: Here's how it breaks down in New Hampshire for voter who identify as very liberal.

No surprise there, more than half of them voting for Senator Sanders.

When you move to somewhat liberal, self-identifying voters there, again, Senator Sanders is leading the pack, with Senator Warren behind him instead.

Here's where the change happens, Mayor Pete Buttigieg leading with people who identify as moderate and also with those who identify as very or somewhat conservative.

How does that inform the race moving forward?

PETER HART: Well, the first point that you make is, 42 percent of all voters are liberal.

And if you have got that large a base, and Senator Sanders is doing well with them, he's positioned himself very well.

Second point is, again, you have three people who are starting to compete on the middle side of things.

So, the question is, does he have a lane all to himself?

And that's what we don't know.

But we're moving to the next chapter.

AMNA NAWAZ: Moving to the next chapter.

For now, we're still looking at New Hampshire, before we move on.

Peter Hart, thanks for being here.

Stay with us, please.

Judy, let's go back to you now in New Hampshire.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Thank you.

Thank you to Amna and to Peter Hart.

And also with us tonight here in Manchester is the "PBS NewsHour"'s political reporter, Dan Bush.

Dan, you have been reporting on this election for months.

You have been spending a lot of time here in New Hampshire.

Talk to me right now about what you are hearing from Democrats about Joe Biden and what happened to Joe Biden here.

And we just heard Peter and Amna speaking about the moderates in the Democratic Party.

Where do they go right now?

DANIEL BUSH: That's the big question moving forward tonight.

Starting with Joe Biden, Judy, his supporters said they were not surprised that he left the state early.

But I had a couple people texting me and talking to me tonight, saying that his results here were discouraging.

Another more bluntly put it, it's a big problem.

They did not expect Biden to do quite so badly.

He was here a lot less than some of his other top rivals.

Now, of course, he did enter the race later on, but he was here 46 days, about half the time that Buttigieg was here.

So, moving forward, he is obviously under even more pressure in South Carolina and in Nevada to show that he can really outperform expectations at this point, because, as we're seeing, he's having a lot of trouble early on.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And we heard him in his statement tonight saying, these are states that are more diverse.

And he said, this is more representative, more the heart of the Democratic Party.

He plans to do well.

But we will see.

We will see what the influence of the New Hampshire result is.

The other thing to talk about is, where do we go from here?

I mean, again, we just heard the conversation about Mike Bloomberg and what he brings, with limitless money.

You're talking to Democrats.

Where do they see this race going as we head into Nevada in another, what, week-and-a-half, and then to -- and to South Carolina a week after that.

DANIEL BUSH: That's right.

So, behind the scenes, there's growing anxiety among Democrats, especially more establishment Democrats.

I was speaking with representatives in the state legislature and other leaders here in New Hampshire.

And what they see, what their worst-case scenario even, is a situation where a couple of moderates, whether it's Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg, whether it's potentially Biden, if he resurges, splitting the moderate vote, and giving a path to Bernie Sanders to continue his surge.

So, we're going to watch that closely to see how that plays out.

JUDY WOODRUFF: To watch that closely.

And then, again, to -- not to repeat what we heard earlier, but Mike Bloomberg standing out there with hundreds of millions of dollars, limitless money, which could have an effect on the race in ways that we can't even imagine today.

DANIEL BUSH: That's right.

He's another big moderate coming in.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Another big -- certainly a moderate coming in, a former Republican coming in.

Dan Bush, thank you so much.

And thank you for your reporting -- Amna, back to you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Thanks, Judy.

Let's go back out now to our Lisa Desjardins.

She's there at a Bernie Sanders campaign event in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Lisa, what's the latest there?

LISA DESJARDINS: I can tell you, speaking of Joe Biden, as we just heard from Judy and Dan, already, Amna, rival campaigns to Joe Biden are talking about how perhaps they should look at his biggest coalition of voters, African-Americans in South Carolina, as potentially up for grabs.

Spoke to some people here who believe Bernie Sanders is the best voice.

They already see a drop in the numbers for African-Americans in South Carolina for Joe Biden.

They think that they can gain there.

I know other campaigns are now planning on putting more resources in South Carolina for this exact reason.

Nevada comes first, but that's a caucus, Amna.

Right now, it looks like the next heavyweight fight is South Carolina.

And all the other campaigns think there are voters available because of Joe Biden's performance tonight.

AMNA NAWAZ: That's Lisa Desjardins on the ground for us there in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Peter Hart, very quickly, in just a couple of seconds, if you can, Lisa's assessment, do you agree with that moving forward?

Some of those voters are now up for grabs, looking at Nevada, South Carolina ahead?

PETER HART: Very much up for grabs.

And I think the other thing is, enthusiasm way up, and defeating Trump now has become the mantra for the Democrats.

And that's important.

AMNA NAWAZ: And that will be the line we hear again and again from all the candidates.

PETER HART: Exactly.

AMNA NAWAZ: Peter Hart, thank you so much for being here with us.

That concludes our "PBS NewsHour" Vote 2020 special for tonight.

Tomorrow, we will be back on the "NewsHour" with more on the volatile Democratic race, as well as other news, including the turmoil in the Justice Department over the sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone, longtime adviser of President Trump, who's been convicted of lying to Congress and impeding an investigation.

We are signing off from this broadcast for now, but you can continue to follow all the results of tonight's primary and all the latest news online.

That's at PBS.org/NewsHour, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @NewsHour - - Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF: We got it all.

Thank you, Amna.

And from here in New Hampshire, a huge thank you to all of our colleagues at our partner public media station in Boston, WGBH.

They have provided our team with invaluable support and partnership tonight.

We hope to see you again tomorrow on the "PBS NewsHour."

I'm Judy Woodruff.

For all of us at PBS and at the "NewsHour," thank you, and good night.