Hooksett, N.H. — “I want you to know that I still love New Hampshire, and I always will!” Hillary Clinton declared during her seven-minute concession speech in Hooksett, N.H., on Tuesday night, as her husband and daughter stood nearby with pained smiles and her crowd of dejected supporters put on a brave face.
Clinton may love the Granite State, but the feeling isn’t mutual. The once-prohibitive favorite for the Democratic nomination suffered a crushing rejection from the same voters who back in 2008 reinvigorated her collapsing campaign against Barack Obama. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders trounced her in nearly every demographic, especially young and rural voters. Many major news outlets called the race for Sanders within one minute of the polls’ closing at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
Clinton’s supporters in the Democratic establishment don’t seem particularly surprised by the loss, given Sanders’s consistent lead in every poll leading up to tonight. “Is she down by 20 points?” Jeff Woodburn, Democratic minority leader in the state senate, asks National Review minutes after the polls close. “I win ten bucks if it’s under 20,” he adds, explaining a bet he made with a neighbor.
But the force of the blow will inevitably shock the powers that be. With nearly three-quarters of precincts reporting, Sanders is beating Clinton 59 to 38 percent. If that stunning margin holds, Woodburn can kiss his $10 goodbye.
The state senator does his best to rationalize the loss. “She’s running against the wind here, the mood that’s out here,” Woodburn shrugs, pointing to the anti-establishment animus propelling Donald Trump to victory on the GOP side.
RELATED: How New Hampshire’s Democratic Establishment Chose Clinton Over Its Constituents
Not all Clinton supporters are as sanguine. “Do you want me to be brutally honest? It’s disgusting,” says Elizabeth Pageutte, a Virginia native who volunteered in Clinton’s 2008 campaign and traveled to New Hampshire to lend a hand in 2016.
“It’s a bunch of crap,” Pageutte continues, clutching an alcoholic beverage like so many others in the crowd. “[Sanders is] an old white man. Do we really need that again? And [his supporters], if you really want to think about it, are sexist. They won’t admit it.”
Pageutte blames New Hampshire’s youth for Clinton’s disastrous loss, pointing to their single-minded obsession with free college education. But the exit polls paint a different picture. Though Sanders won voters under 30 by a huge margin — 84 to 15, almost identical to his margin in Iowa — he also won the majority of women voters. And he beat Clinton by a whopping 45 points among independents.
#share#Free college tuition wasn’t their issue. Nearly six in ten voters said they were voting for the candidate they found trustworthy and who cared about people like them. Those voters went for Sanders in a landslide — over 90 percent of voters who rated trustworthiness as most important voted for him.
“It just seems like Sanders cares more about the people,” said Karen Benzekri, a mom and high-school teacher who spoke to National Review moments after casting her vote for Sanders in Nashua. “He just has more in common with everyday people on a number of issues.”
RELATED: After Iowa, Hillary Is Really Feelin’ the Bern
“Hillary tends to change her mind depending on who she speaks to,” said Michelle Vatcher, another Nashua native who voted for Sanders on Tuesday. Sanders “doesn’t have all the drama going on with the stuff Hillary has.”
Clinton’s supporters recognize the gravity of the defeat. Many tried to chalk it up to forces beyond the candidate’s control. “The nation is just in a really bad mood,” Bethany Yurek, a Clinton volunteer from Claremont, says mournfully.
With more and more Democrats believing Sanders could triumph in a general election, the Vermont senator undoubtedly has the momentum.
They express confidence that New Hampshire is an aberration, saying neighboring Vermont gave Sanders a regional advantage. “I believe our political system in this country, our constitutional system, is not a place that embraces revolutions on either side,” says Woodburn. “I don’t think the South will embrace democratic socialism, or places with swing voters will embrace it.”
But Sanders’s name recognition in New Hampshire wasn’t especially high when he began his campaign last year. And from Governor Maggie Hassan and Senator Jeanne Shaheen to nine of New Hampshire’s ten Democratic state senators, the state’s entire Democratic establishment came out hard for Clinton.
Now national polls are tightening, undercutting Clinton’s once-massive lead and putting the two Democrats in a virtual tie. Her razor-thin victory in Iowa last week was hardly a vote of confidence. Though she still leads handily in South Carolina’s upcoming race, Nevada appears up for grabs. With more and more Democrats believing Sanders could triumph in a general election, the Vermont senator undoubtedly has the momentum.
#related#In her speech Tuesday night, Clinton tried to embrace her new underdog status. “I know what’s it’s like to be knocked down,” she said. “And I’ve learned from long experience that it’s not whether you get knocked down that matters. Its whether you get back up!”
The crowd roared as she stepped off the stage to “Fight Song,” the upbeat pop tune by Rachel Platten and a staple at Clinton rallies. This time, the lyrics had a different ring to them. “And I don’t really care if nobody else believes, ’cause I’ve still got a lot of fight left in me,” Platten sang, as Clinton briefly worked the crowd before disappearing backstage.
The Clinton campaign wants Democrats to believe she’s down but not out following Tuesday night’s stinging setback. One thing’s for sure: She’ll have to fight a lot harder than she was expecting.